Amnesty International's You Can't Jail Minds

You Can't Jail Minds is a UK-wide poetry competition to raise awareness and understanding for prisoners who are denied the freedom of expression. Aditi imagined she was a prisoner writing her poem in secret. She wrote her poem on a wrapper that covers embroidery thread approximately 3 cm by 3 cm. Aditi's poem, titled "Maze" reads:

"Sitting in my cell, for a crime is not a crime
Blamed to be a person, not a person,
Who I am
I am stuck in a maze, not a maze
For it has no escape route
Still trying to find open doors and
Escape routes
From this place
Which is my new world
A world which is unlike the rest of the world,
As I have realised
There is no hope
As open doors and escaped routes do not exist here."

The article in the local Oxford Mail newspaper by Fran Bardsley reports on Aditi's success.

A poem inscribed on a tiny scrap of paper has won the regional round of a prestigious human rights poetry competition.

Oxford schoolgirl Aditi Gaddam, a pupil at St Clare's, Oxford, was named the Midlands winner for Amnesty International's You Can't Jail Minds competition.

It was the first time the human rights charity had held such a competition, and hundreds of schoolchildren were challenged to create poetry - without putting pen to paper.

Pupils were asked to imagine how it felt to be imprisoned without access to a fair trial and then express their feelings in the form of a poem, but without using traditional writing materials.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: "The judges were impressed by the innovative ways in which pupils across the country took to the task and really put their minds into how individuals could continue to express themselves given limited resources.

"Aditi's entry illustrates that perfectly. Using the tiniest scrap of paper she managed to produce a truly moving poem."

The competition was inspired by the experiences of Irina Ratushinhskaya in the Soviet Union, Jack Mapanje in Malawi and a number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Aditi, 16, who is originally from Bangalore, India, and moved to Oxford to study last year, said: "I feel happy and shocked to have won but I did put a lot of effort into it.

"My poem is about how when you are in prison and you realise there is no way out. I think Amnesty and human rights are really important because it is happening around the world. You need to be aware of what is happening and do the most you can to help others."

Her teacher Rebecca Winfield said: "Aditi really took into account how someone who cannot freely express themselves would find ways around it. Her poem is an inspirational piece and illustrates a sense of empathy with prisoners who are denied the freedom of expression."