I went to two jails during my latest trip across the globe. A sentence you wouldn’t expect to hear from a normal (and law-abiding) seventeen-year old girl, right? The idea of correctional facilities in itself is not a subject that is widely accepted, nor is there much awareness about this system, especially not in India. In July of 2024, I visited the country of my heritage to give back to the community, looking for a true volunteer experience. But I soon realized that my project was so much more than that.

Byculla Womens’ Jail in Mumbai is the home of the state’s very first creché for the children of the incarcerated mothers, called “Nanhe Kadam,” which translates to “small steps” or “baby steps.” Up to age six, these children spend their days in the homey room outside the jail, complete with colorful wall murals and dozens of toys and puzzles. Here, they get an education and get to socialize with the other kids; children of the jail officers and employees were often taken care of in the creché. Other jails in India, such as the Sanganer Open Prison and Jaipur Central Jail, also inhabit schools and crechés within the jail borders. These are the three prisons I visited. The Byculla and Sanganer crechés were made possible by Aangan Trust, a child protection agency, and with the help of Dr. Smita Dharmamer, Associate Director of Children in State Care at Aangan Trust, I got the opportunity to interact and give back to these kids.

As an aspiring pediatrician with a budding interest in medicine and psychology, I was curious about the mental and physical wellbeing of these children as an effect of the incarceration of their mothers. I wanted to understand their lives and try to make their day a little bit brighter. I visited the jail in Mumbai first. I remember removing my shoes and stepping into the room, only to find fifteen pairs of wide eyes staring up at me with unbridled curiosity and a hint of hesitation. I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face. The kids were adorable and full of energy. In a matter of minutes, their skepticism disappeared as I sat down with them and started chatting. I did a read-aloud of a couple picture books, which was met with a lot of enthusiasm. The kids recited poems for me, sang songs, told me stories, and did some dances. We ended the day with some “Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes” and “The Chicken Dance.” That smile lingered on my lips for the rest of the day.

Those days continued, full of laughter and fun activities, but my favorite was the day we painted the big mural. Facing the front door of the creché was a boxy building that housed the irrigation system; the wall of the building was the first thing you saw as you looked out the window of the nursery. As my family and I talked to Dr. Dharmamer, we decided that with all the children standing by the window, looking outside, the best thing we could do is turn the sight of a blank wall into something they connected with. The next day, my mom and I bought different colors of outdoor paint, trays, and paintbrushes on the way to the creché. We were greeted by excited and curious kids, like always. I began by outlining the tree with chalk, and then I went in and painted the trunk a woody brown. By then, the children were antsy to participate in the painting. They all came up to me, saying “My turn!” and “Me first!” And so the chaotic artwork started.

I painted each child’s hands with different colors, helped them up onto a stool, and pressed their hands against the wall. Little by little, we added colorful handprints to form the foliage of the tree. I made sure that every child’s handprint was on the tree, and some kids from the neighborhood even came and joined, helping me paint the flowers at the base of the wall. The teachers left their handprints as birds and butterflies, hovering near the tree of hands. I stepped onto the stool and lettered the name “नन्हे कदम” (Nanhe Kadam). The creché’s logo is a pair of baby footprints within a heart, which was our finishing touch. One of the teachers brought the youngest baby who had just woken from his nap. I colored his feet red and gently pressed them to the heart of the tree: baby steps being lifted by countless hands. Now when the children stand on their tiptoes looking out of the creché window, they will see something they made with their own hands, literally, a splash of color, and a happy memory.

The next week, I was in Jaipur, Rajasthan, visiting the Sanganer Open Prison. In this correctional facility, prisoners are allowed to live with their families, work their own jobs to make their own money. It didn’t look like a jail at all - it was just a village. Within the prison borders was the Government Primary School at Sanganer Open Prison, where the children of the prisoners and other underprivileged children came to learn, as well as a nursery for the preschoolers and younger kids. I only got to visit the open jail once, but that one day was full of excitement. The children in the creché were eager to show me their notebooks full of numbers and letters, reciting rhymes and songs.

I went into the next room, the third and fourth grade classroom. My mom asked them a couple questions, and then handed the chalk over to me as I explained my name’s spelling in English, the water cycle, parts of a plant, and more. Even with my slightly hesitant Hindi, the students were extremely responsive and keen on answering and learning. They started asking me riddles and jokes that we all shared a laugh about, and by the time I was leaving, there were multiple choruses of “Bye, Didi!” and smiling kids crowding around the window, waving heartily.

Just like traveling, reading has been one of my greatest joys, giving me the chance to explore every corner of the world and allowing me to find homes in both real and imaginary places. My desire to share this feeling was first manifested in my own book, The Lilac Ring, a fantasy novel that I self-published, with proceeds from book sales being donated to UNICEF and childrens’ charities. And with this project, I wanted to incorporate a piece that emphasized the importance of literacy in my life and that spread my love for reading. Over the month of June, my family and I hosted a book and toy drive in my community in North Carolina, which resulted in over 170 children’s books and toys that we donated to the crechés. Even as we arranged the books on the table to present to the jailors, the kids were intrigued and excited, and they couldn’t keep their hands off the storybooks. We donated a library to each learning facility so the children had an available collection of books; to maximize the space, we installed wall-mounted shelves instead of standing shelves. My family also donated towards accessible drinking water for the children, providing water dispensers to keep within the crechés.

As a final piece of this project, I wanted to understand the medical aspect of the children’s lives. I got the chance to meet with the Chief Medical Officer at the Jaipur Central Jail to discuss her findings and observations in the wellbeing of her patients. The doctors have monthly check-ups with both the prisoners and the prisoners’ children, and when necessary, they are taken to the J K Hospital for treatment. As I spoke with her, I learned a lot about the daily lives of the inhabitants at the jail. Children have a different diet, providing nutrients that contribute to growth and development, and their age-based milestones are observed. They learn in the creché and then get to play outside in the field after 4pm. For the prisoners that breastfeed, a more nutritious and iron-heavy diet is enforced. Menstrual products are sufficiently provided and female health is accounted for by the medical team. Overall, the physical health of the prisoners and the children is excellent.