In a session at the Times Celebrate Bandra Festival, activist Arun Ferreira, who was branded a 'Naxalite' by the state and charged with sedition before being acquitted of all charges, spoke about spending close to five years in prison. While in jail, Ferriera sketched scenes of prison life, which was later transformed into a searing memoir, 'Colours of the Cage'.
Ferreira explained that he wrote the memoir because often people are complacent as they believe there are rules guiding all processes in a democracy. "But often, these rules are unreasonable and inhumane," he explained.
The 90-minute conversation with social scientist Deepa Bhalerao was peppered with insights like, "The pain of torture is bearable, but the shame of torture isn't."
He also explained that wealthy prisoners are often housed in better barracks partly to prevent them stirring up trouble by filing applications on behalf of illiterate prisoners. Ferreira also spoke about the need for prison reform explaining how sticking to an archaic prison manual led to prisoners being subjected to an officer's whims and fancies. For instance, one officer encouraged Ferreira to complete a human rights course, while another discouraged it.
Ferreira also shared humorous anecdotes including one in which Nagpur prison guards underestimated Mumbai's traffic. The guards, who were accompanying Ferreira for a narco analysis test, asked him the distance between Kurla and Kalina. "I asked them do you want to know the distance or the amount of time it will take," he recalled. But they missed the nuance and also the train home.

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