‘There is a list of places to visit with my daughters’

“Without my family’s support, I wouldn’t have survived prison life. The longing for spending life with my family helped me live through these 14 years. There are a few inmates without a family, and I could understand how much pain they are in,” said Manikandan. He had attacked his friend’s rivals which resulted in a death, taking him to the prison.

While Manikandan spent years in prison, it was his wife Shanthi who managed the family needs by selling vegetables. Whenever he came out on parole for three or four days, Manikandan would take his daughters to the movies. But there were restrictions that he should report to the police station. “Now, I want to take them to different places and they have already prepared a list,” says a smiling Manikandan. For a living, he wants to ride autorickshaw again and seek financial help from government.

R Uma of Medavakkam started to panic and broke down, as her husband Ravindran (32) did not turn up while other families started celebrating the arrival of freed prisoners. Police and his brother tried to console her that Ravindran was helping to arrange the stage for the event. She calmed down only after seeing Ravindran and hugged him, unable to control her tears. Ravindran then handed her a box full of coins, which he earned by ironing the shirts of officers and even fellow inmates in the prison. “I was 20 when I was arrested and had to leave my two children in the care of Uma. I was into roofing work and now I have to choose between that and ironing,” he said.