(..15..)

PRISON SYSTEM[1]

Table of Contents

QUESTION BANK

Q.1 Write a brief note on prison reforms in India.

Q.2 What are the different types of prisons? State functions of Jail.

Q.3. Define prison. State the history of the prison system.

Q.4. State in brief administrative organisations of prion.

Q.5. State briefly the classifications of prisoners.

Q.6. State the history of the evolution prison system in India and suggest measures for its improvement.

Q.7. Discuss the evolution of the open prison system. Discuss the merits and demerits of the open prison system.

SHORT NOTES

Open prison
Problems of prison
Prison administration
Prison unrest

SYNOPSIS

I] History of the Prison system:-

A prison is a place properly arranged and equipped for the reception of persons who, by a legal process, are committed to it, for safe custody or for safe custody while awaiting trial.

The institution of prison or jail is indispensable in every country. The reason is obvious that in every society, there exist crime and criminals. Thus, punishment, reformation, retribution, and education for inmates are some of the objects of prison.

The modern prison system is largely based on the British model. But the British model is an outcome of prison developments in America. Therefore, before studying the prison system in India, it is important to study the evolution of the prison system in Britain and America.

1) American Prison System:-

In America, before 1682, life in prison was very hard, unbearable and painful. Offenders were mercilessly tortured and brutally treated. Punishments were very severe, like death, public humiliation, branding, whipping etc.; imprisonment as a punishment was very rarely used, that too for the particular offenders only.

The pathetic condition of prisons and inmates created a lot of hues and cries against the system, which led to the passing of the Paris Charter in 1862. The charter made provisions for bail and compensation to prisoners wrongfully detained, prisoners were given the choice of their food and lodging, and punishment in public was abolished.

Latter, ‘Quackrs’, a religious sect, started the movement in 1775 for prison reforms on humanitarian grounds. This movement led to classifying prisoners into hardened criminals and ordinary criminals. The treatment given to them was also different.

However, two new model prison systems were established for better treatment of prisoners,’ viz. (i) the Pennsylvanian System and (ii) The Auburn system. Both these models lay great emphasis on (i) non-communication between the prisoners, (ii) extracting work from them during day time, and (iii) keeping them in complete isolation during nighttime. However, in the Pennsylvanian system, prisoners were to live and work in isolated cells; therefore, they could not even know each other. However, in the Auburn system, prisoners were provided segregated work in shops during day time, but they could not speak with each other. These systems were prevalent until 1870.

In 1876, the Elmira Reformatory was established in New York. This reformatory was the importation of a new system from Europe and Australia. This system consisted of an indeterminate sentence; marks were given to measure good behaviour in prison. It was helpful for getting parole. There was strict discipline, which helped in the rehabilitation of prisoners. The work in prison kept the inmates engaged during their stay in prison. It helped reform the prisoner and absorb him as a good citizen of society.

However, in a true sense, reformation in the prison system was started after establishing a reception centre in Illinois in 1933. The outlook was changed towards reformation. The focus was changed towards individualization of treatment than general. The cells in this prison were airy, well ventilated and provided with sufficient lights. The facility for reading, writing and learning, physical exercise, recreation of inmates etc., were provided. The sentence of solitary confinement was completely abolished. The system stressed reducing the gap between the outside, free life and the life inside the prison.

2) The British Prison system:-

Like the U.S, in England also, offenders were mercilessly tortured and brutally treated. The prisons were damp and vermin infected. The prisons were places full of filth, corruption, sex indulgence and all sorts of vices.

It is Beccaria, a Criminologist, who raised his voice against such a pathetic condition of prison, which led to some reforms in place of prison. Pope XI also advocated for the humane treatment of prisoners. Due to their efforts, the first penitentiary[2] was established in 1776. In this system, prisoners were kept in solitary cells[3] and were engaged in manual hand work during the day.

In a true sense, the Act of 1778 marked the beginning of prison reforms in England. The Act made elaborate provisions for prison reforms, and the entire working of prisons was remodelled. The Act created confidence among prisoners in their rehabilitation. The inmates were allowed to meet their friends and relatives. ‘Ticket on leave”, i.e. system like parole, was introduced in the 19^th century. Later on, a separate prison system was established for children.

However, due to political upheaval and wars in Europe during the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, many war captives and political offenders led the existing British prison system to be overcrowded with inmates. To cope with this situation, Britain started to transfer a large number of prisoners to its colonies, specifically to Australia. However, such transportation of a large number of prisoners created a number of problems in Australia, and it eventually turned out to be detrimental to British interests. Therefore, the system of transporting prisoners to Australia was abandoned. In fact, by that time, the British system was working with borrowed ideas from the American system.

However, Sir Lionel Fox, who was the secretary initially and chairman later of the Prison Commission during the 1930s, contributed a lot to prison reforms in Britain. The modern reformatory British prison system owes great credit to him. His contribution to the field of prison reforms in England is very big. Most of the modern techniques of prison administration owe their origin to him. According to him, the prison system should serve both objectives, i.e., deterrence and reformation.

Later, the concept of ‘parole’ and ‘suspended sentence’ was introduced to lighten the pressure on prisons. Presently, in Britain, prisons are classified into different categories; prisoners are provided vocational training, and their rehabilitation is insured with after-care.

3) History of the Indian Prison System:-

In ancient India, the Prison system was well organised. We find some references in history. Brihaspati favoured imprisonment. Similarly, we find some references in Kautilya’s Arathasastra of imprisonment as a punishment. In those kinds of literature, reformation through spiritual awakening was stressed.

However, in the Mughal period, prisoners were ill-treated, tortured and subjected to inhuman treatment.

Initially, the British were not keen on improving the prison system in India. However, reformations in the British Prison system also lead to corresponding reformations in India. Various committees were appointed to suggest prison reforms. The first Prison Enquiry Committee was appointed in 1836, which recommended the abolition of the prisons working on roads. The Second Jail Committee was appointed in 1864 and recommended better clothing, food and regular medical checkups. Upon recommendation of the Third Jail Committee in 1877, the Prisons Act came into existence in 1894. The last in British rule was the Fourth Jail Committee in 1919, which recommended the discouragement of corporeal punishment in jail, education to prisoners and the introduction of aftercare help to ex-convicts.

In Independent India, serious efforts were made to reform the prison system. Mahatma Gandhiji was in favour of causing reforms in the prison system. His pioneering sentence, “Hate the sin, but not the sinner”, was the bedrock of reformation in the Indian prison system.

Independent India appointed the Pakwasa Committee in 1949, which recommended utilising prisoners as a labourer, paying them wages, and reducing sentences on good behaviour in prison.

The Indian Constitution came into force in 1950, and subjects like the administration of prisons, police, and maintenance of law and order were placed under the State List in the VII schedule. Thus, the State Government, not the Central Government, is responsible for prison administration.

In 1951, the government of India initiated Dr W.C. Wreckless, a technical expert at UNO, to recommend prison reforms in India. As a result, the All India Jail Manual was prepared upon Dr Wareckless’s recommendation.

In 1980, the All India Jail Reforms Committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Justice A.N. Mulla; the committee recommended the appointment of the National Prison Commission. The committee also suggested some other prison reforms, such as

a) Making adequate arrangements for food, clothing, sanitation, ventilation, etc., with trained prison staff.
b) Integration of aftercare, rehabilitation and probation facilities,
c) Media and the public are to be allowed to visit prisons to know the conditions inside the prison.
d) Reducing the period of under-trial prisoners[4].
e) Government should make appropriate arrangements for financial and other resources for periodical prison reforms.

Indian judiciary, through its number of decisions, has also contributed to jail reforms.

II] Types of Prisons:-

Prisons are generally classified according to the level of security they require. They house criminals who have committed similar types of offences. Jails in England and the U.S.A. are classified based on the required security level.

In India, as discussed earlier administration of prisons or jails falls in the State subject included in the State List of the seventh schedule of the constitution. Therefore, the management and administration of prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the State governments. The management and administration of prisons or jails are governed by the Prisons Act 1894 and the Prison manuals of the respective States. Thus, the Central Government has no role in its administration. However, the central government assists states in improving security, repairing jails, providing medical facilities, etc.

Prison establishment in India comprises eight types of jails, viz.

1) Central Jails:-

Prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for a long term, i.e., more than two years, are confined in Central jails. Central jails are larger than other jails and comprise rehabilitation facilities. Presently, there are 123 Central jails in India.

2) District Jails:-

District jails are the main prisons in the States or Union territories where no central jails exist. However, there may be central and District jails in the same states. There are around 333 District jails in India.

3) Sub-jails:-

Sub-jails are smaller institutions situated at a sub-divisional level in the State. There are around 809 subjails in India.

4) Woman jails:-

As the name suggests, women’s jails are made to accommodate women prisoners and provide specialised facilities for women. There are around 19 women’s jails in India.

5) Borstal Schools:-

Borstal schools are youth detention centres used exclusively for minors or juveniles’ imprisonment.

Brostal School’s main aim is to ensure the care, welfare, and rehabilitation of young offenders. Its other important object is to prevent youthful offenders from contaminating the atmosphere of adult prisoners. The juveniles are provided with various vocational training and education with the help of trained teachers.

6) Special jails:-

Special jails are high-security jails. They have high-security facilities and specialised arrangements to house prisoners convicted of terrorism, insurgency, and violent crimes.

7) Open jails (Discussed in note).

8) Other jails:-

Jails that do not fall into the above categories are called ‘other jails’. One such jail exists in each of the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa.

III] Types of Prisoners:-

The prisoners are broadly categorised into convicts, under trials and detenues. They are further classified by other parameters such as gender, nationality, mental health, etc.

1) Convicts[5]:-

A convict is a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court. It may also be said ‘a person serving a sentence in prison’.

2) Under-trial[6]:-

An under-trial is a person who is currently on trial in a court of law. In other words, he is not convicted or acquitted yet.

3) Detenue[7]:-

A Detenue is any person detained in prison by order of the competent authority under the relevant preventive detention laws.

4) Other classification of prisoners:-

Model prison manual lays down the following kinds of prisoners, among others discussed above.

5) Adult prisoners / Young prisoners:-

A prisoner who is not less than 18 years and more than 21 years of age is called an adolescent prisoner.

6) Adult Prisoner[8]:-

An adult prisoner is one who is more than 21 years of age.

7) Casual prisoner[9]:-

A convicted criminal other than a habitual offender is called a ‘casual prisoner’.

8) Civil Prisoner[10]:-

A civil prisoner is any person who is not committed to custody under a writ, warrant or order of any court or authority exercising criminal jurisdiction or by order of a court martial and who is not a detenue.

9) Habitual offender[11]:-

A habitual offender is a prisoner who is habitual in committing crimes.

10) Military Prisoners:-

A prisoner convicted by court marital is called a military prisoner.

11) Remand Prisoner:-

A prisoner who the court has remanded to prison custody pending investigation by the police is called a ‘remand prisoner’.

IV] Functions of Prison:-

Prison has the following main functions-

1) Social isolation and confinement[12]:-

The chief object of imprisonment is to isolate the convict socially and confine him to a specific place to prevent society from him.

2) Repentance[13]:-

Repentance is a natural consequence of being an isolated prisoner. Therefore, repentance is also an important function of imprisonment.

3) Punishment and deterrence[14]:-

An important function of imprisonment is to deter criminals through punishment. It also sets an example for society to deter/desist from the commission of a crime.

4) Protection of society:-

Protection of society from criminals is also an important function of imprisonment. It is the famous dictum that “prevention is better than cure. Thus, by confining a criminal in jail, society is protected from his further commission of a crime.

5) Reformation[15]:-

Causing reformation in offenders and rehabilitating them into society as good citizens is also an important function of the jail.

6) Rehabilitation[16]:-

Rehabilitation of the offender after serving his sentence is yet another function of a jail.

V] Problems before Prisons:-

Jails face the following problems-

1) Overcrowding:-

Overcrowding is the root problem in Indian prisons. In India, all jails are overcrowded. Congestion in jails, particularly among those under trial, has been a matter of concern. The under-trail population has to be reduced drastically to decrease prison overcrowding by awarding bail, holding Lok-Adalats, plea bargaining etc.,

2) Violence in prison:-

Group violence and riots in prisons are common. Therefore, prisons many times form a dangerous place for inmates. New prisoners are tortured to all manual tasks from their seniors.

3) Criminalising effect of prison:-

There are severe chances of contamination of the first-time circumstantial and young offenders into full fledge criminals due to mixing with hard-core criminals.

Sometimes prisons serve as training centres for new criminals. Therefore, it is said that ‘prisons are Universities of crime”. There should be a scientific and psychological classification of inmates to avoid the criminalization of new inmates.

4) Sexual abuse:-

Young and feeble prisoners are tortured by their senior prisoners to satisfy their sexual lust. Homosexuality has become common in prison. It sometimes transmits diseases like HIV/AIDS.

The victims carry a lot of anger and frustration, which they take out on the next innocent.

5) Corruption and extortion:-

Extortion by prison staff, guards etc., and corruption are common in prisons to avoid work. We have heard that inmates enjoy cell phones, rich diets, and comfortable lodging in prison by corrupting prison staff and guards.

6) Health problem:-

Inmates in jails face health problems. As we know, most prisoners come from socio-economically disadvantaged sections of society. In such societies, diseases, malnutrition and the absence of medical services are prevalent. When such person mix with each other in unhealthy conditions of the prison, infections and communicable diseases spread easily. Special attention is needed to be provided to improve health facilities in prison. In order to treat prisoners suffering from serious diseases, volunteers need to be trained in prison to nurse such prisoners.

7) Drug abuse:-

Being imprisoned and cut off from the free world due to increased deprecation, prisoner seeks to get the banned substances or drug to satisfy their addiction.

Due to corruption, drug addiction in prison increases.

8) Mental illness of prisoners:-

Mental illness is five times more in prison than in general society. Many times mental illness develops during imprisonment.

9) Condition of a woman in jail:-

The condition of women in jail is much worse. They even do not get the minimum facilities required. They face the problem of their children. Children are not adequately cared for. In Seela Barse V/s State of Maharashtra,[17] Honourable Supreme Court laid down some guidelines for the protection of the interests of women prisoners, viz.

Female prisoners and suspects should be guarded by female guards or woman constables only.
Interrogation of women should be carried out by woman officials etc.,

Moreover, in Sunil Batra’s Case[18], Hon’ble Supreme Court suggested some prison reforms. Such as, prison staff should not impose additional punishments on prisoners; even prisoners sentenced to capital punishment should be allowed to take food in other inmates’ company, prisoners should be provided facilities like newspapers, meeting other prisoners etc.,

NOTE

Open Prisons:-

I] Meaning and Definition of Open Prison:-

The open prison system is also called ‘Open Air Camps”, “Open Jails,” or “Open Parole Campus”. As a part of the rehabilitative approach to punishment, an innovative and very effective system is established, which is known as “open prison”. Open prisons are established to inculcate a sense of responsibility among prisoners and to rehabilitate them in society. This system is found to be more effective in the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners. It is found to be a constructive rehabilitation process than purposeless punishment.

In ‘open prisons’, there are no armed guards, bars, confining walls and locks. Inmates are allowed to move freely, maintain self-discipline and earn their livelihood by means of labour. Therefore, most of the open prisons have agriculture farms in which prisoners work, and the sale proceeds of the products are their remuneration.

United Nations Congress defined ‘open prison’ as an ‘open institution’. It lays down that “An open institution is characterised –

(i) by the absence of material and physical precautions against escape such as walls, locks, bars, armed guards, etc.,

(ii) by the system based on self-discipline and an innate sense of responsibility towards the group in which he lives[19].

II] Characteristics of Open Prison System:-

Following are the characteristics of open prison, viz.

Inmates live in small groups with minimum security measures.
Regular routine of work, on payment of regular wages, under supervision are used as means of treatment on inmates.
The inmate pays his maintenance cost from his payment.
There is free and intimate contact between the staff and inmates.
Allows the impact of group dynamics on the individuals.
Inmates are allowed to participate in religious, moral and cultural activities with the neighbouring free community.
Reduces expenditure of the State.

III] Advantages of Open Prison:-

Open prison has the following advantages, viz.

Reduces overcrowding in jails.
Reduces construction costs and operational costs on jails.
Work in an open prison keeps inmates physically and mentally fit.
open prisons are helpful in the self-improvement, rehabilitation, and socialisation of inmates.
Since inmates are selected, other inmates do not get training in criminality.

The scheme of an open prison is found very useful.

In the Dharmbir V/s State of U.P[20]

The Supreme Court observed that ‘Open prisons have certain advantages in the context of young offenders comparative to conventional jails’. Therefore, the Court directed the U.P. government to send two young prisoners to open prison.

Similarly, in Ramamurthy V/s State of Karnataka[21] Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that ‘open-air prisons play an important role in reforming prisoners. The open prison represents one of the most successful applications of the principle of Individualisation of penalties with a view to social readjustment.

V] Origin of open prison:-

The first open prison, which was actually a semi-open prison, was established at the end of the nineteenth century in Switzerland. The open prison as we know it today was established in 1930 in the UK and then in 1940 in the U.S.A. Nowadays, an open prison system is found in almost all countries.

Open prison system in India:-

All India Jail Committee in 1919-1920 expressed its view that open-air life and employment in the form of labour would have reformatory influence. The first open prison was established in U.P. in Lucknow in 1949. The state of A.P. established open prisons in 1954, and the State of Maharashtra at Yarawad (Pune) in 1954.

Again, from 1956 to 1957, the All India Jail Committee recommended setting up open prisons to rehabilitate prisoners.

Thus, in conclusion, we may say that open prisons are very useful in rehabilitating and socialising prisoners.

*****

[1] करागृह / तुरूंग प्रषासन

[2] गुन्हेगार सुधारगृह

[3] एकांतवासातील खोलीत

[4] कच्चे कैदी

[5] शिक्षा ठोठावलेले

[6] कच्चे कैदी की ज्यांचे केसचे निकाल झालेले नाहीत

[7] बंदीवान / ज्यास गुन्हा करूनये म्हणुन बंदीवासात ठेवले जाते परंतु त्याने अजुन गंन्हा केलेला नाही

[8] प्रौढ कैदी

[9] सर्वसामान्य कैदी

[10] दिवाणी न्यायालयातील कैदी

[11] सराईत गुन्हेगार

[12] समाजापासुन वेगळे ठेवणे / बंदीवासात ठेवने

[13] पष्चाःताप करणे

[14] शिक्षा व भीती

[15] सुधारणा घडवणे

[16] समाजात चांगला व्यक्ती म्हणुन त्याचे पुनर्वसन करणेs

[17] AIR 1983 Supreme Court 378

[18] Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (1978) 4 SCC 409

[19] The United Nations Congress on Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders held in Geneva in 1955.

[20] (1979) 3 SCC 645

[21] (1997)2SCC 642