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| Awards - Joseph Beuys |
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 Kiran Bedi, India’s first woman police
officer and former prison head, has been awarded the fourth Joseph Beuys Prize by a German foundation
based in Frankfurt, for her work with prisoners. The prize is named after German artist Joseph Beuys.
Referring to her work in Asia’s biggest prison, Tihar Prison in Delhi, the foundation said Ms
Bedi had successfully fostered . . . creativity and dignity, among people for whom hope had run out,
thereby demonstrating a love of humankind that shows an impressive kinship with Beuys’s thought.
The prize is worth DM 25,000 (£9000).
Ms Bedi made a name for herself fighting against corruption, but her appointment in
1993 is Inspector General of Tihar was received with some scepticism in some quarters.
With a combination of humanism and toughness, she set about transforming the prison
culture and succeeded in, among other things, controlling drug use. A rehabilitation unit was
established, education and work were provided for all and smoking was stamped out.
Although she gained recognition for her work both in India and abroad, in 1995 Ms
Bedi was given a new assignment and is now a ‘Special Secretary’ to Delhi’s Lieutenant
Governor. However, she says, she would ‘love to return to prisons . . . I’d like to make our
prisons a model for all of Asia, and even beyond.’ |
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