1. Prison Rules:
Prison administration being a state subject the State
Governments have framed Prison Rules under the
Prison Act which are more or less similar with slight
modification here and there keeping in view the local
conditions.
These Rules invariably provide that :
1. Every prison shall maintain a Register of prisoners
with numbered pages in which shall be recorded
information concerning identity of prisoners, reason
for his commitment and authority therefor, and also the
day and hour of his entry and release.
2. No person shall be lodged in the prison without a
valid commitment order.
2. 3. Different categories of prisoners shall be
kept in separate institutions or parts of
institutions taking into account their age, sex,
criminal record, the legal reason for their
detention and the necessities of their
treatment. Thus,
(a) Male and female prisoners shall be, as far
as possible lodged in separate institutions.
(b) Undertrials should be kept segregated
from the convicted prisoners.
(c) Persons imprisoned for non-payment of
debt and other civil prisoners should be kept
separate from other convicts who are
imprisoned by reason of criminal offence.
(d) Young prisoners (Juveniles) shall not be
3. 4. The accommodation provided for use of prison
inmates and dormitories shall meet the minimum
requirement of space, health, light, ventilation etc.
with adequate sanitation installations and bathing/
clothing facilities.
5. There must be adequate supply of food, water and
medical treatment for prisoners. Each prison must
have at least one medical practitioner to look after the
health and hygienic conditions of the prisoners.
6. Adequate facilities for physical exercise and
entertainment should be available in the prison.
7. In women's prison institution, there should be
special accommodation for all necessary pre-natal and
post-natal care and treatment. They may be provided
facility to keep their babies with them during
custody.
4. 8. There should be a ban on instruments of
restraint such as handcuffs. chains, iron bars
etc. as a measure of possibility of prisoner’s
escape or their transfer and transportation for
court attendance.
9. Prisoners may be allowed to meet with their
family, relatives and reputable friends at
regular intervals under the supervision of jail
guards.
10. Adequate educational and library facilities
should be available in prison as also the
vocational training programs for the prisoners.
11. Adequate arrangement should be made for
protection of prisoner’s property while they
are in jail.
5. Rights of Prisoners
A convict lodged in a prison is not removed of all
his fundamental rights though it is true that he
does not enjoy all the fundamental rights like
other persons because of the fetters imposed on
him in accordance with the law. The High Court of
MP. in SP. Anand v. State of Madhya Pradesh, AIR
2007 MP 166 has extensively dealt with the basic
rights which are available to prisoners despite
curtailment of their right to liberty. For example, a
prisoner must have reasonable accommodation
to live a healthy life as provided under the Prison
Rules.
6. The Supreme Court in State of Gujarat v. High
Court of Gujarat. AIR 1998 SC 3164 reiterated that
reasonable wages should be paid to prisoners for
the work/labour done while in prison and laid
down guidelines for the same. The Court further
held that conviction for a crime does not reduce
the person into a non-person whose rights are
subject to whims of prison administration.
Referring to an American case on Prisoner’s right,
i.e., Procunier v. Martineg 1974 40 L Ed 24 the
Court emphasised that since the liberty of a
prisoner is constitutionally curtailed due to his
confinement, his interest in the limited liberty left
to him becomes all the more substantial.
7. The human rights of prisoners must be protected at all
costs and the convicts should be entitled for reparation.
The Supreme Court in State of Maharashtra v. Asha Arun
Gawli. AIR 2004 SC 2233 observed that maladministration
in prisons often leads to violation of prisoner’s right. The
jail authorities oblige inmates by giving them illegal
concessions and at time even cause misappropriation of
Jail fund in connivance with the inmate criminals. The
Court held that the norms relating to entry of persons to
the jail, maintenance of proper records of persons who
entered the jail are often breached. Such officials should be
sternly dealt with and made to pay exemplary costs by way
of fine.
8. Expressing concern for the rights of
the women prisoners, the Supreme
Court in the case of R.D. Upadhyaya v.
State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 2006
SC1946 set out certain guidelines for
the prison authorities. The death of
women prisoners and suicide
committed by them during their prison-
term was a serious cause of concern
for the court and the jail authorities
were directed to prevent such
incidents by upgrading their health-
9. Open Prisons:
The institution of prison serves a dual purpose of
eliminating criminals from society and
reformation and rehabilitation the offenders
under institutional treatment by blanketing out
conditions which in the first place turned them into
law-violaters. It has now been generally accepted
that after-care service must form an integral part
of penal programme.
As a part of correctional service it presupposes
active help and guidance to the discharged
prisoners through counseling and surveillance.
The process has therefore. been called the
"released person’s“
10. The system of parole as a corrective measure and
rehabilitative process has been expanded in the
form of open jails and open air camps during
preceeding five decades. Open-air institutions are
essentially a twentieth century device for
rehabilitating offenders to normal life in the
society through an intensive after-care programme.
Modern Anglo-American penologists have realised
that persons convicted for an offence against the
laws of their country respond more favourably to
humane treatment and constructive rehabilitative
process than to the purposeless punishment.
11. Particularly in United States, significant changes have
been introduced in the correctional system for treatment
of offenders. Besides the system of probation. parole.
indeterminate sentence, juvenile courts for young
delinquents, open-institutions have been set up for
rehabilitation of criminals throughout the country. These
open-prisons provide work to inmates in forests,
agricultural farms and construction sites., instead of
allowing them to be idle inside the prison cells.
Open-air prisons play an important role in the scheme of
reformation of prisoners which has to be recognised as one
of the essential objectives of prison management. They
represent one of the most successful applications of the
principle of individualization of penalties with a view to
social readjustment because introduction of wage system,
release on parole, educational. moral and vocational
training of prisoners are some of the characteristic
features of the open-prison system. The monetary returns
are positive and once put into operation, the open jails
12. Definition of Open Prison:
Criminologists have expressed different views about the
definition of open prison. Some writers have preferred to call
these institutions as open air camps, open jail or parole-
camps. The United Nations Congress on_Prevention of
Crime and Treatment of Offenders held in Geneva in 1955,
however, made an attempt to define an open prison as
follows :
"An open institution is characterised by the absence of
material and physical precautions against escape such as
walls, locks, bars and armed-guards etc., and by a system
based on self-discipline and innate sense of responsibility
towards the group in which he lives".
In other words, open prisons are ‘minimum security’ devices
for inmates to rehabilitate them in society after final release.
In India, they are popularly called as open jails.
Sir Lionel Fox, the Chairman of the Prison Commission for
England and Wales described the usefulness of open prison
and observed. "of all the methods by which a prison regime
13. Dr. C.P. Tandon, the then Inspector-General of Prisons,
Uttar Pradesh defined open prison in 1959 stating that,
"it is characterised by (a) the degree of freedom from
physical precautions such as walls, locks, bars and special
guards; and
(b) the extent to which the regime is based on self-
discipline and the inmate’s responsibility towards the
group. The objective of an open peno-correctional
institution is to aim at the development of self-respect and
sense of responsibility as well as useful preparation for
freedom....discipline is easier to maintain and
punishment seldom required, tensions of a normal prison
life are relaxed and conditions of imprisonment can
approximately be more close to the pattern of normal life.
“
Origin of Open Prisons:
The emergence of ‘open prisons’ marks the beginning of a
new phase in the history of prisons. In the closing years of
14. Sir Alexender Paterson, the member secretary of the Prison
Commission of UK. from 1922 to 1927 made significant
contribution to the development of open prisons in England.
The philosophy underlying those ‘minimum security’
institutions was based on the following basic assumptions…
1. A person is sent to prison as a punishment and not for
punishment.
2. A person cannot be trained for freedom unless conditions
of his captivity and restraints are considerably relaxed.
3. The gap between the institutional life and free life outside
the prison should be minimised so as to ensure the return of
inmate as a law abiding member of society.
4. The dictum ‘trust begets trust’ holds good in case of
prisoners as well.
Therefore. if the prisoners are allowed certain degree of
freedom and liberty. they would respond favourably and
would not betray the confidence reposed in them.
The success of open prisons subsequently, led to
establishment of ‘hostel system‘ for prisoners in UK. and
15. Open Air Camps in India
Taking inspiration from Anglo-American developments in
the correctional field of penology, the Indian penologists
were convinced that India also cannot successfully tackle
its crime problem by putting criminals in prison cells
indiscriminately. Experience has shown that dumping the
convicts in overcrowded prison cells serves no useful
purpose.
It is a known fact that Indian prisons are overcrowded. The
percentage of overcrowding, however, varies from prison to
prison. It has been observed by the Supreme Court that
overcrowding per se is not constitutionally impermissible,
there is no doubt that it contributes to a greater risk of
disease, higher noise levels. surveillance problem etc.
16. That apart, life becomes more difficult for inmates
and work more onerous for prison staff when
prisoners are in overcapacity. Yet another baneful
effect of overcrowding is that it does not permit
segregation among hardened offenders and the first
offenders who are generally separable. The result
may be that hardened criminal may spread their
influence over others.3 The institution of open prison
seems to be a viable alternative to reduce
overcrowding in prisons. The whole thrust in these
open-prison institutions is to make sure that after
release the prisoners may not relapse into crimes and
for this purpose they are given incentives to live a
normal free life. work on fields or carry on
occupation of their choice and participate in games,
sports or other recreational facilities. It is thus
evident that the object of the open-prison system is to
inculcate in the prisoners a sense of self-discipline
