Success stories under Mission Vihaan | Cricket, classes & exams: Inside Bihar’s Sasaram jail, quiet reforms

Inside a Bihar jail, two Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) convicts are preparing for competitive examinations, a dozen murder accused are filling forms for board exams, and several inmates are taking skill courses — aided by Khan Sir’s General Studies classes and Dr Vikas Divyakirti’s lectures.

Inmates at Sasaram divisional jail have emerged as leading success stories of jail reforms initiated under Mission Vihaan since August 2, 2023. From allowing inmates to design spaces and encouraging them to resume abandoned education to running recreational radio programmes that prepare them for life beyond prison, Sasaram division prison stands apart among Bihar’s 60 jails for initiatives taken over the last 1.5 years.

Much of this is down to jail superintendent Sujeet Kumar Roy. Roy, who has been Sasaram jail superintendent since 2024, says the aim is to “humanise jail and return society reformed citizens”, and credits his late father Murli Dhar Roy, district magistrate of Gopalganj from 2005 to 2008, for shaping his outlook. “Once my mother reprimanded my father for poor upkeep of Gopalganj jail. Later, my father took up prison reforms in a big way. This stayed with me,” Roy, who introduced similar reforms while posted as jail superintendent at Banka, says.

At first sight, the Sasaram jail with its half-chained iron gate looks nothing like a prison. A pond with wide, neat steps draws attention. This was the venue for the Chhath Puja celebrations in November. A few metres away stands a Buddha fountain, with a Lord Buddha statue shining in resplendent colours. “Water’s upward movement symbolises positive energy. Our attempt is to neutralise negativity imprisonment brings,” Roy tells The Indian Express. In one corner is a space unlike anything else inside — Ram Janki Kutir. Designed by an inmate lodged since 2020 in a POCSO Act case, the room, with a small bridge and hut-like structure, resembles a resort more than a prison enclosure and, true to the Ramayana reference in its name, symbolises Sita’s captivity in Lanka.

Its designer, a Class 12 pass who earlier ran a cybercafe, is serving a life sentence, upheld by the Patna High Court on December 12, 2025. The inmate plans to appeal his sentence in the Supreme Court. “I had many aspirations,” he says. “But now, five years have passed, and everything’s faded into the background. Still, I want to do something good if I ever go out.”

The jail also has a volleyball court and a cricket ground that hosts its own tournament — the Jail Premier League. Golu Singh, captain of the Kaveri Khand team who’s serving a life sentence for the murder of his then newly-wed wife, says he is “trying to neutralise his negativity through sports”.

The jail also has a dedicated e-mulakati room which, in true Hollywood style, has 11 landline intercoms on either side — for relatives and inmates — separated by a soundproof glass wall. An inmate is allowed to meet family once a week, barring some exceptions. The jail has a sanctioned capacity of 1,278 prisoners across a 32-acre campus. It houses 937 inmates, including 46 women. Of these, 653 are undertrials and convicts in murder cases, 291 in liquor law cases and 86 in POCSO cases.

Fifteen men face simple imprisonment (up to three years), 45 men and four women face rigorous imprisonment (10 years), and 140 men and one woman face life sentences. Of the total inmates, 447 are in the 20–30 age group. The jail has registered 34 inmates in Class 10 — of whom 15 have written exams twice a year under the distance learning programme. Of four inmates enrolled for Class 12, two have written their exams. Particularly popular is the Certificate in Food and Nutrition (CFN) course from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), with 124 inmates enrolled this year. Besides, 125 inmates have undergone training in three fisheries courses, while 45 are training under the Bihar Small Entrepreneurship scheme to prepare for life beyond jail.

The impact of prison reforms is most visible at the computer centre-cum-library, which runs its own radio programme — Radio Dosti. Broadcast at least twice a day, it features motivational lectures, poems, songs, educational content and computer classes. The radio centre can accommodate over 50 inmates at a time. Warder Sikesh Singh coordinates these initiatives. “My job is to identify and encourage inmates to join classes. We discuss each activity of the day with the jail superintendent,” he says.

Each inmate has a story. At the men’s prison is Manoranjan Kumar, 23, from Medinipur in Sasaram, brought to jail on April 10, 2024, in an attempted murder case. Born to a farmer family and in the final semester of his MSc in Mathematics at Veer Kunwar Singh University when arrested, Manoranjan now seeks a job to “get his sisters married”. “I decided to move on and concentrate on my preparations for competitive exams from inside jail,” he says, adding that he has attended Khan Sir’s online General Studies classes and has filled forms for three Staff Selection Commission exams.

Similar reforms extend to the women’s ward, which announces itself even before one steps inside. On the outer wall, a large painting carries the name Mahilakhand (Saraswati), with Goddess Saraswati painted amid trees and flowing water.

Beyond the women’s ward, the jail administration has opened a salon for inmates. Two convicts and an undertrial manage the two-seater salon, which serves around 25 inmates daily. Other highlights include a large kitchen, where 226 kg of chicken is cooked weekly, and modern appliances that prepare tandoori rotis.

Yogendra Sharma, in jail for 10 years for murdering his elder brother, works as a barber at the salon. “This jail is my life,” he says. “It’s good to see fellow inmates having a haircut on a cushy revolving chair.”

He is joined by Neeraj Sharma, a former barber arrested in a rape-and-murder case. “My mother is a cancer patient. No one has come to meet me for two years. But I have no complaints,” he says.

IGP (Prisons) Pranav Kumar says the police are happy with the reforms at Sasaram. “Some other prisons have also been doing well. Our next step is to refurbish the old buildings of Sasaram jail. We also intend to introduce CCTVs and provide video calling for inmates for court cases to minimise security lapses.” For many, however, time stands still. In the women’s jail, Sarita Devi, a 35-year-old sanitation worker arrested last month, longs to return home. “Here, time does not pass,” she says, tears filling her eyes. A fellow inmate adds: “Food is good. Medicines are given. But no matter what, it is jail. Everyone wants to go home.”