Essay on the Prisons Present in British India !
The British colonial rule in India marked the beginning of penal reforms in this country. The British prison authorities made strenuous efforts to improve the condition of Indian prisons and prisoners. They introduced radical changes in the then existing prison system keeping in view the sentiments of the indigenous people. The Prison Enquiry Committee appointed by the Government of India in 1836 recommended the abolition of the practice of prisoners working on roads.
Adequate steps were also taken to eradicate corruption among the prison staff. An official called the Inspector-General of Prisons was appointed for the first time in 1855 who was the Chief Administrator of Prisons in British India. His main function was to maintain discipline among the prisoners and the prison authorities. With this appointment, the jailor and other petty officials of prisons could no longer abuse their power and authority.
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The second Jail Enquiry Committee in 1862 expressed concern for the insanitary conditions of Indian prisons which resulted into death of several prisoners due to illness and disease. It emphasised the need for proper food and clothing for the prison inmates and medical treatment of ailing prisoners. Thereafter, certain recommendations were also made by the third Jail Enquiry Committee in 1877 followed by further suggestions in 1889 and 1892 respectively.
As a result of these recommendations, the Prison Act, 1894 was enacted to bring about uniformity in the working of prisons in India. It empowered the then existing Provinces to enact their own prison rules for the prison administration. The Act provided for classification of prisoners and the sentence of whipping was abolished.
The medical facilities which were already made available to prisoners in 1866 were further improved and better amenities were provided to women inmates to protect them against contagious disease. Despite these changes, the prison policy as reflected through the Act, by and large, remained deterrent.
During the period from 1907 onwards, vigorous efforts were made to improve the condition of juvenile and young offenders. They were now kept segregated from hardened adult offenders so as to prevent their contamination. A number of reformatories and Borstal institutions modelled on British pattern were established for the treatment of juvenile delinquents during early twentieth century.
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It must be stated that the freedom movement had a direct impact on prison conditions in India. The dimension of national movement during the first half of the twentieth century brought the Indian prisons into social lime-light. The prison administrators who were mostly British officials, classified these political prisoners into two broad categories, namely, (i) violent, and (ii) non-violent. Summary trials were conducted for the political prisoners in jail precincts since most of these prisoners represented educated middle class or even the prestigious class of Indian society.
The British prison authorities had to frame elaborate and rigorous jail regulations for the freedom fighters with minutest details about inmate’s food, medical care, recreation, family visitors, parole etc. With the additional burden on prisons due to influx of political offenders there was extra burden on traditional jail budgets, with the result the conventional system was literally ignored and the condition of prisons deteriorated beyond imagination. The jail authorities had little time to attend to non-political prisoners.