The first night in jail is reputed to be the hardest. After that, you learn how to survive, though many prisoners carry lifelong scars.

The Feared brings together interviews conducted by Neeta Kolhatkar with eleven political prisoners, and in some cases, their loved ones, in which she highlights the interviewees’ everyday lives within the walls of multiple prisons across India. In doing so, she calls urgent attention to the grave injustices meted out to the thousands of undertrials dissent in the political life of India today.

During long discussions, sometimes taking place over multiple meetings, Kolhatkar unearths personal anecdotes from the time her interviewees were incarcerated, bringing into focus the human face of prison inmates, while also detailing the wretched conditions relating to space, hygiene, medical attention, and food that they experienced. Apart from being an urgent call to action for prison reforms, The Feared is thus also an account of hope and strength, narrating unique stories of survival and solidarity, and the unexpected bonds and relationships formed in prison