Sister Mariola

Social Welfare

Sister Mariola is the only connect that inmates at the Ajmer Jail have with the outside world. She is their messenger, their guide and a friend they can open up to.
She came to Ajmer in 1979 to become a nun. She joined the religious Congregation of Mission Sisters of Ajmer that runs premier educational institutions across the country. She began teaching at Sophia College in 1997 as a Lecturer in English. With the Ajmer Jail adjacent to the college, she decided to put her free time with under trial women from poor families.
Initially Sister Mariola was only an attentive listener, but gradually she started studying their papers and arranging legal aid. She has managed to get many cases on the fast track and got the authorities to take notice of inmates who had already served their terms. She also engages the women inmates in activities like making paper bags from waste newspapers. She then sells these bags for the inmates so they could afford small luxuries like cosmetics and snacks She continues her work at the Ajmer prison as inmates wait for her every week.
She uses every platform to lobby for prisons without walls