Essay on Sampurnanand Agricultural-cum-Industrial Camp, Sitarganj (District, Nainital), Uttaranchal.
This open prison was started in February 1960 in the tarai region on Nainital district near Kichha which is now in Uttaranchal State. It was one of the largest open prisons in the world which was spread over seven adjoining villages, namely, Kalyanpur, Merabararara, Prahlad Pulsiya, Lalarpatti, Barn, Lalarkhas and Rudrapur of Sitarganj Tehsil.
The camp was located near Sitarganj town. In the beginning the camp had the status of a District Jail which was subsequently raised to the status of a Central Jail.
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The camp was started on 5965 acres of land out of which 2000 acres of reclaimed land was handed over to the Government for rehabilitation of displaced persons. The forest land was cleared by the inmates for agricultural purposes. Since the inmates and camp officials lacked technical knowledge and practical training, hence a joint venture was started on October 2, 1975 with the partnership of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Agricultural University. It worked for twelve years with substantial agricultural growth and profit. In addition to cultivation of land, the inmates were trained in carpentry, masonary work, dairy farming, poultry farming, sheep-rearing etc.
Initially, only long-term prisoners were brought to this camp to work on agricultural farms. The inmates were paid for the day’s wages and some of them were also engaged in cottage industries such as spinning, weaving, gur-making etc. The camp accommodated several long-term prisoners as wage-eamers.
The life inside the open camp was perfectly routined and inmates hardly thought of escaping from there. Greater emphasis was laid on the character building of the inmates so that they could become law-abiding citizens after their return to society.
Originally, the criterion for eligibility of prisoners for Sampurnanand open prison camps was highly selective. In the beginning, 500 inmates were brought to this came. The casual prisoners and habituals belonging to Uttar Pradesh with not more than one previous conviction between the age group of 21 to 50 years and sentences for one year or more with unexpired sentence of atleast six months were eligible after they had spent one-eighth of the sentence including remission.
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Their conduct should have been good and they should not have got more than one punishment for prison offences per year of the period undergone and they were to be physically and mentally sound, free from any physical deformity and infectious disease. Their consent for being booked to the open prison was necessary. Returnees and ex-convicts as also the political offenders and those committing offences under Sections 153A, 216A, 231, 232, 295, 298, 303, 309, 328, 364, 386, 389, 396, 417, 489A of the Indian Penal Code were ineligible for being sent to open air camp.
The life in the camp began with mass prayer early in the morning. This was followed by a mass-drill. Thereafter, the inmates were to attend their work at work-sites. While at work, the officials of the camp constantly kept on reminding the inmates of the virtues of honesty, sincerity and truthfulness and appealed them to keep up the name and dignity of the camp and not to bring disrepute to the institution.
For this purpose, they made extensive use of amplifiers and loud speakers. This had a tremendous psychological impact on inmates as it enabled them to appreciate the virtues of an upright and honest living. During leisure hours the inmates were imparted religious and moral education through casual talks, discourses, lectures, films etc. with a view to impressing upon them the virtues of ideal life.
The craft teachers employed in the camp imparted vocational training to inmates in different trades and cottage industries. Adequate recreational facilities were also made available to the inmates of the camp. On festivals and occasions of national importance, special programmes were arranged for inmates and they were served special diets to mark the occasion.
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Another significant feature of the camp was that all possible efforts were made to keep inmates away from the evils of incarceration. Even the use of conventional terms such as “convict”, “jailor”, “warden”, “prison”, etc. were avoided to protect the inmates from stigmatisation of prison life. The inmates were called “mazdoor” instead of convict.
The warden, head warden, deputy jailor and jailor were called the ‘supervisor’, head supervisor, welfare officer and the chief welfare officer, respectively. The object was that while in the camp, the inmates are made to forget about their past prison-experiences so that they can resume normal life in society after their release from the camp without any stigma.
This open air camp was without any physical barriers and the inmates enjoyed complete liberty of movement without any guard or watch on them. The attendance record and other particulars about the inmates were maintained by the official of the camp called the Group Officer. Each Group Officer was in charge of one hundred and fifty inmates. Mutual trust and confidence was the central principle underlying the working of Sampumanand Camps.
The inmates were neither searched nor counted during night. Their attendance was taken only once while they presented themselves for work. They could meet their friends and relatives without any restrictions. They were also eligible for periodical home-leave. The maintenance charges of inmates were recovered from the wages earned by them as “workers” on work-sites.
The number of escapes from the camp was negligible and those who absconded were apprehended. For breach of camp discipline, the inmates were nominally fined and the amount so recovered was to be credited to the amenities fund which was utilised for the welfare of inmates.
The special feature of the camp was that one of the group of the inmate volunteers (Sivayam Rakshaks) guarded the camp day and night and lived in open without any security arrangements. The construction of the building etc. of the camp was done by the inmates themselves under the supervision of a junior engineer. It had as many as twelve perfectly skilled mason to do the work. The inmates were called ‘shivir-niwasi’ so that there was no stigma of being called as prisoners.