Are people with intellectual disabilities or mental health struggles treated with dignity or care inside prisons? What is care in the context of a space designed to punish? Does the criminal justice system have the capacity to absorb their tears, wipe their sweat, hold their hands, see their laughter, or hear their voice? What happens to their lives? What does their journey through the system look like? Sound like? Languish attempts to represent the invisibilized crisis of mental health in the Indian criminal justice system through fictionalised accounts of real stories of incarceration.
Languish was developed in collaboration with three artists who have designed and illustrated zines in the series. Access the zines by clicking on the covers below (in series order):
The series was scripted by: Nihira (Communications Associate at The Square Circle Clinic) and Jyoti Thakur
The series was illustrated by [in serial order]: Purvai Aranya, Nimisha Sonkar, Sadhna Prasad
The series was developed and produced by: Maitreyi Misra (Director of Mitigation, and of Mental Health and Criminal Justice at The Square Circle Clinic) and Nihira (Communication Associate at The Square Circle Clinic) while they were part of Project 39A, NLU Delhi.
The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR 