Once a techie, always one. Even while passing 13 months in jail, engineer Amit Kumar Mishra created a piece of software that is making Indian prisons go high-tech.

Gurgaon-based Mishra, who is 31, was sent to prison in a false dowry death case in 2013 when he was in his late 20s.

While in prison, Mishra made the most of his time by putting his skills to use and created a piece of software, Phoenix, which increases the efficiency of the prison management system and makes the lives of inmates and officials easier and more productive.

While in prison, engineer Amit Kumar Mishra made the most of his time by putting his skills to use. He created a piece of software, Phoenix, which helps organise both staff and inmates.

In a letter dated September 17, 2015, addressed to all states and union territories, the Ministry of Home Affairs had recommended incorporation of prison management software, and Phoenix was mentioned in a list of suitable options along with three other pieces of software.

While his innovation is being talked about today, the going has been tough for Mishra. His wife committed suicide by taking poison within two years of their marriage. Even before he could recover from the tragedy of losing someone he doted on, his in-laws slapped sections 304 B (dowry death), 498 A (dowry) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on him.

He and his family were implicated in a false dowry death case, for which he spent 13 months in judicial custody. His ailing parents spent three months in prison.

During his time in jail, Mishra observed several leakages in the prison management system.

“I was taken into custody even before I could make sense of what had happened. With no access to legal remedy for the first three months, I lived in confusion. Eventually, I realised there were several other inmates who barely knew about the current status of their cases. At the same time, I also understood that for prison officials, it was difficult to keep track of hundreds of inmates with no proper mechanism in place,” said Mishra.

With the help of Phoenix, kiosks that display the case records of an inmate from his thumb impression have been set up.

“The details include sections under which he has been facing custody, the current status of his case, the next date of hearing in court. For the prison authorities, the system helps them keep track of which inmate has to be sent for hearing and in which court. Possibilities of goof-ups have been significantly narrowed down,” Mishra said.

Mishra also noticed a problem with the coupon system in jails.

“Authorities issue coupons to inmates for buying products of daily need from the prison canteen. As the coupons are printed in whole numbers, inmates ended up spending more than what was required. It burned a hole in the pockets of those who were not financially strong and had to spend months in jail. Also, there were chances of such products being hoarded by the seller,” he said.

With no financial help from outside, Mishra himself had to manage with Rs 2,000-3,000.

“So I created a retail system that made the coupon system redundant. Now, an inmate, with his thumb impression, can buy any product from the canteen and the money will be debited directly from his account,” he explained.

“As time passed, I realised it was not easy to prove my innocence given the nature of cases slapped on me. The jail superintendent, who was sympathetic to me, told me that the only way to survive was to stay mentally fit. I decided to pursue my case while working on the software,” Mishra added.

Mishra was acquitted of all charges in July 2014. By February 2015, he had set up his company Invader Technologies. His software has proved to be path-breaking for prison management and has been installed in all jails in Haryana. It is being talked about in other states as well.

“After Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh is expected to install our software. We are already in talks with Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Assam,” he said.

Once a resident of the swanky DLF Phase II in Gurgaon, Mishra has now moved to government quarters in the Bhondsi Jail campus. His company is working on other software that will help prisons function better.

Though Mishra has been trying to leave his past behind, he still wonders why his wife committed suicide. He also has no idea why his in-laws, who treated him like a son, implicated him in a false case.