Ceramics project brings training to jail inmates

A restorative initiative, Project Restart, is bringing ceramics and vocational training to prison inmates across Haryana and Maharashtra, offering a pathway to rehabilitation behind bars

A restorative initiative, Project Restart, is bringing ceramics and vocational training to prison inmates across Haryana and Maharashtra, offering a pathway to rehabilitation behind bars.

The project was showcased at the Indian Prison Festival at Delhi’s Dr Ambedkar International Centre in March this year.

Shreya Kedia, a National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad graduate, launched the ceramics-driven programme that works with inmates, ex-inmates, and juveniles. “Over nine months in 2025, the project has engaged more than 100 participants and led to the establishment of a functional ceramics workshop and kiln inside Nuh jail in Haryana,” she told HT.

The workshop -- carried out in partnership with a Delhi-based NGO and the NID Ford Foundation -- was set up after Kedia and her collaborators raised approximately ₹2.6 lakh through crowdfunding last year.

The team is also working to register Project Restart as a non-profit and scale the model to more prisons, including those in Delhi. The project was showcased at the Indian Prison Festival at Delhi’s Dr Ambedkar International Centre in March this year.

More than 25 workshops have been held at Nuh jail so far, where inmates have learned to craft ceramic products. “Ahead of Diwali last year, the participants made festive items that were distributed among jail staff and sold at a petroleum station located inside the prison premises. Some products have also been retained by us. We are now planning an exhibition to showcase the inmates’ work,” Kedia added.

The project is now expanding beyond Haryana, with plans to introduce similar ceramics workshops at Byculla jail in Mumbai.

Kedia emphasised that the initiative aims to use ceramics not just as vocational training, but as a tool for creative rehabilitation, skill development, and restoring dignity among prisoners.