From Prison Inmates to Yoga Warriors

In the basement of a building in South Extension, Delhi, is one of the more remarkable yoga centers in the city. There are no gimmicky twists, like beer yoga or goat yoga. This center is remarkable because its teachers are mostly ex-convicts.

Panchawati Yogashram is run by Swami Ashutosh, a yoga guru and a prison reformer who promotes the use of yoga in rehabilitation. He’s known for introducing Project Rupantaran in Tihar Jail in Delhi (the largest prison complex in South Asia). In 2016, he took 18 long-term prisoners on a 14-day “Rupantaran Yatra,” or transformational journey, to Haridwar––an event which garnered a lot of publicity.

But on a day to day basis, Ashutosh runs a yoga center in South Extension, which is staffed by ex-inmates from Tihar. He founded a yoga teacher training course at Tihar in December 2015 with an initial batch of 200 inmates, aiming to help them find work after they got out of prison. “Once they complete a course, they are given a certificate,” he tells me. “Many find their way to this center by the address mentioned on the certificate.”

That’s how Brijesh Shukla, 29, found his way there. Charged with fraud, he spent a year in Tihar before getting bail. “The first 10-15 days at jail were disturbing. I am not a confrontational person. Others would tease me,” he told me. For first timers, prison can be traumatic, as they’re forced to quickly navigate issues of overcrowding, poor infrastructure, and violence.

Shukla now lives in Noida with his wife and a two-year-old baby. “After the first few weeks [in jail], I found yoga. Initially, the other inmates would make fun of me or insult me for practising yoga. But gradually I started hanging out with the good folks.”

Inside the prisons, gangs are rampant. Fights break out that lead to injuries. So called “unnatural deaths” are not uncommon. “All this can make an inmate stressed,” says Ashutosh. He is not alone in arguing that yoga can help.

As one study on female prisoners found, “In India, not much emphasis is given on the stress management programs, and thus it becomes all the more important to understand the importance of stress management tools with specific reference to yoga and meditation.”

The study goes on to say that, “Yoga and meditation help bringing in the positivity among the prisoners which help them in positive thinking and motivate to concentrate on other things in which they are interested and in which they prove their actual identity, their real personality.”

While the government has promoted yoga in several recent initiatives, it has also been made a regular practice in many prisons across the country. In fact, in a Maharashtra prison, convicts excelling in yoga were to be given three months’ remission in their jail term.

The theory is, according to Ashutosh, that yoga helps prisoners be more “mindful” of violence. Tihar inmates who’ve had training train others. Ashutosh mentioned about half-a-dozen ex-inmates, convicted of crimes ranging from rape to fraud, who now work as yoga teachers across Delhi and National Capital Region.

After taking a class with Shukla, I spoke to his students, who said they were aware of the teachers’ backgrounds. Sunita Madan, 45-year old homemaker who lives in the neighbourhood said the students were “all positive” about their instructors.

Deepak Mishra, 35, was in prison for three years after being convicted for fraud and now returns regularly to Tihar to teach yoga there. He was in prison for three years himself, also convicted of fraud. Mishra tells me about the “agnipariksha” that he had to face once he was out of jail. “Everybody treats you differently," he said. "Even your own family. No one gives you a second chance.”

Yoga obviously isn't a perfect solution. Currently, there are about 4 lakh prisoners in 1401 institutions across the country. Every year on International Yoga Day, thousands of inmates gather to take part in the practice. One year, Swami Ashutosh recalls, “A few inmates tried to escape but thankfully were caught. It would have ruined our reputation.” And rehabilitation (and reintegration) of inmates once they are out of prison is a struggle for many.

After three years at the center, the ex-convict yoga teachers make home visits too. “For the teachers I have at my center, I give personal guarantee,” said Ashutosh. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

Initially there were skeptics, Swami Ashutosh tells me. There was concern that criminals were visiting the neighbourhood and that it was not safe. “They have served their sentence. How many times will society punish them?” Ashutosh told me after the class. But he is seeing some changes in the attitudes of neighbours. “They are coming around.”

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