Two jail inmates of Parappana Agrahara Central Prisons in Bengaluru to walk out with PG degrees

BENGALURU: Two inmates of Parappana Agrahara Central Prisons in Bengaluru are all set to proudly walk out of the prison with three post-graduate certificates.Yellappa (37) and M S Narasimha Reddy (48) were sentenced in 2004 in two different murder cases in Doddaballapura and Bagepalli respectively.  
As per the information available from the Prisons authorities, Narasimha Reddy will be released on Wednesday along with 50 other inmates based on his good conduct. Reddy made best use of his time in the prison to complete a PG course.

“As I was a graduate already, I did my PG courses in Journalism, Economics and History during my imprisonment. I felt bad for what happened in my life. To forget those bad memories, I started visiting the library in the prison. Gradually, I got addicted to books and with the help of officials I got admission in distance education courses. Today, I have three PG certificates,” Reddy said.
After completing his graduation at National College in Bagepalli, Reddy was studying Law, and he also got a job in KSRTC as a conductor. While on duty, he committed a crime and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.

“All these years I was away from my family. After going back, I will try to educate people about the importance of education and spread awareness about distance education courses. I will ask my wife to join courses and experience the same happiness that I felt,” he said.Yellappa is likely to be released on January 26. He was sent to jail for a murder case when he was 23.Unlike other prisoners, Yellappa did not waste time. He decided to educate himself and joined distance education courses through Bangalore University and Karnataka State Open University, Mysore. “First, I did my Bachelors in Arts and later I got an admission for a Masters course in Public Administration, Journalism, Diploma in Ambedkar studies,” he said.

Now, he has applied for a course in Human Resource Management at Bangalore University.
Director of Bangalore University Distance Education Directorate Prof B C Mylarappa said, “When I was a director few years ago, I went to central prison and assured them of providing free education if they wished to join. In Yellappa’s case I went personally and interviewed him. We will give him admission.”

The way ahead
Interestingly, both Yellappa and Narasimha Reddy wish to take up teaching as their profession. As they would not get any government jobs, they have decided to approach private colleges. “Our only request to college managements and other teaching faculties there is, not to discriminate us. Whatever happened in our life is in the past. Help us live our life in the present. After being inside the prison for 14 years and being away from family, friends and society, we have learnt a big lesson in life,” said Yellappa and Narasimha Reddy. They both wanted to do PhD along with teaching as a job. Meanwhile, Prof B C Mylarappa assured them of helping in getting jobs.  

State government will be releasing 108 prisoners from  jails across the state on Wednesday.  Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said that the prisoners who have shown good conduct will be released.  The state government usually releases prisoners on occasions like Independence Day, Republic Day and Gandhi Jayanti. However, after the prison scam broke out, inmates were no more freed.