23 dec 2011
New Delhi's Tihar Jail has always prided itself as being a cut above the others in the country. It has held VIPs and con men and murderers and thieves, but it also has an aggressive programme to engage prisoners through "extra curricular" activities like yoga, sports, computer education and so on.
Instead of getting into drugs and violence which are endemic in prisons, the inmates are entertained, as well as provided an opportunity to do something productive.
Tihar's latest experiment is a project in using the universal love for music to engage its inmates. The 18th century poet and playwright William Congreve once said, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast." He may not quite have had rock music in mind, but the general idea is the same.
A recent rock concert for the inmates featured several Delhi bands as well as an in-house group, "Flying Souls", which pointed to the ways in which innovative ideas can be used to occupy prison inmates in some fruitful and pleasant activity.
Tihar Jail's 'Flying Souls'
Capital-based rockers Menwhopause and in-house jailbird band Flying Souls leave the 800-strong audience of inmates swaying, cheering and chanting for an encore.
New Delhi's Tihar Jail has always prided itself as being a cut above the others in the country. It has held VIPs and con men and murderers and thieves, but it also has an aggressive programme to engage prisoners through "extra curricular" activities like yoga, sports, computer education and so on.
Instead of getting into drugs and violence which are endemic in prisons, the inmates are entertained, as well as provided an opportunity to do something productive.
Tihar's latest experiment is a project in using the universal love for music to engage its inmates. The 18th century poet and playwright William Congreve once said, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast." He may not quite have had rock music in mind, but the general idea is the same.
A recent rock concert for the inmates featured several Delhi bands as well as an in-house group, "Flying Souls", which pointed to the ways in which innovative ideas can be used to occupy prison inmates in some fruitful and pleasant activity.
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