In a spectacular turn of fortune, once an inmate of Bhondsi jail, Amit Mishra, now runs his own firm that designs software for companies in various fields including education and healthcare. But his venture is unique – his prime focus is prison software. Mishra first became acquainted with this aspect of policing during his time in jail. The 32-year-old was imprisoned in connection with a case regarding his wife’s death, who committed suicide. After 13 months behind bars, Mishra, who was a software engineer, was acquitted in 2014. In June 2015, he founded a software company – Invader Technologies – in Gurgaon’s DLF Phase II. His standout work was a software that he, along with the help of a handful of other inmates, which he named Phoenix. Now used in jails all over Haryana, the software was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2015, making it only the fourth software to be given this badge of honour, reported The Indian Express.
After founding his company, Mishra consciously made the decision to keep his doors open to former inmates, who were qualified and interested in the work available at his company. Talking to The Indian Express, he said that when he started the company, his main task was to maintain and upgrade the prison software and he had only four employees then, apart from himself. All were former inmates. Now, the company has 35 employees. Of this, three are ex-inmates of Bhondsi jail – one used to be an accountant, another a former employee of Maruti and the third a former banking sector professional. Two of them are out on bail.
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Talking about his journey, he said that during his time in prison, he came to know that a lot of inmates were people just like him – people who may or may not be guilty of the crimes they have been accused of, but look to start afresh when they were released, but who do not find the opportunities and are left unemployed. His company was his effort to help them get reintegrated into society, said he.
Meanwhile, his software is appreciated by jail authorities. The superintendent at Bhondsi jail, Harinder Singh, said the software has helped “staff, prisoners, as well as visitors” by increasing efficiency, accuracy and providing “records that are available at the click of a button”.