Byculla jail inmate Manjula Shetye's alleged murder by prison officers should fit right in with the horror stories of atrocities in prisons. Shetye, though, was no ordinary prisoner. She was a convict officer — a state appointee from among convicts who acted as a prefect for the inmates and reported directly to jail officers. 

Some convicts and undertrials have even authored books and made field reports for higher studies while serving time in jails in Maharashtra. Activist Arun Ferreira, who spent time in a Nagpur jail, wrote a book on his experience there, and says that the prison officers use convict officers as extra-institutional force to control prisoners. He further says, "The convict officer is a prized position, for it entitles a remission in jail sentence. These prisoners obtain better food from the mess and sometimes, the 'sick diet' (milk, fruit, eggs)."