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Effects of Imprisonment on Inmates at Industrial Area Remand and Lang’ata Wom...
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI)
1. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention
ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 7714
www.ijhssi.org Volume 2 Issue 11 ǁ November. 2013ǁ PP.73-77
Open Prisons, Their Working and Utility as Institutions of
Reformation and Rehabilitation
Anju Sinha
1
,Assistant professor Campus Law Centre Law Faculty, University Of Delhi
ABSTRACT : Prisons have come to occupy the central place in the administration of Justice all over the
world. The prison system has come a long way from the concept of jails (which were the dens of lechery,
debauchery and moral corruption) to the modern prisons; a place full with all sorts of intramural treatment
meant ultimately for rehabilitation of offenders. The prison system as it operates today in India is a legacy of the
British rule. It facilitated the abolition of our antediluvian system of barbarous punishments and substitution of
imprisonment as a chief form of punishment for the commission of crimes. The emergence of open prisons
marks the beginning of a new phase in the history of the prisons. The first scientific effort to modernize prisons
in India was made by Sir Walter Reckless; he submitted an excellent report on prison administration in
India.The observations of criminologists, sociologists and persons engaged in prison administration reveals one
common observation that state of affairs in the prison is against the scope of reformation of prisoners because
after release from the prisons the convicts have to return to the society and then begins the real problem and here
comes the importance and requirement of open prisons. A huge number of convicts of under trial prisoners
released from the prison every year and therefore object of prison laws and administration should be reform
oriented to reduce recidivism. Open prison serves a dual purpose of eliminating criminals from society and
reformation of offenders under institutional treatment by blanketing out conditions which in the first place
turned them to law violators. It has undoubtedly open a new vista in the realm of correctional treatment,
promising an offender greater freedom, natural surrounding and lesser tension which culminate in creating
atmosphere more conducive to reform himself and to achieve social, moral and economic rehabilitation in the
society. The best thing about the open prison is that it is an antidote to what is known as „prisonization‟ of the
convict. In simple words the ill effects of institutionalisation and criminalisation denoting two components of
prisonization get liquidated. Thus correctional facility under the umbrella of open prison is very effective for the
realisation of rehabilitative or correctional ideology without unnecessary from confinement in a prison
surrounded by high walls. Open prison is more favourable to the social adjustment of the prisoners and at the
same time more conducive to their physical and mental health. The conditions of life in open prison resemble
more closely to normal life and consequently desirable contacts can be arranged with outside world whereby the
inmates be brought to realise that he has not severed all links from the society. By this open prison helps the
prisoners to augment his confidence and create in the mind of prisoners a genuine desire for social readjustment.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Historically, prisons have always been places in which criminals could be securely confined and this
containment function has continued to predominate in spite of the gradual emergence of other aims for
imprisonment, such as deterrence or rehabilitation. Containment here means not only the prisoners must be kept
out of circulation, but also that their deviations, even within the prisons, must not be on such a scale as to disturb
the peace of mind of the man in the street.The louder rhetoric that prisons reform and rehabilitation is far more
unconvincing than the conventional belief that prisons corrupt and criminalise their inmates. The penological
literature bears immense testimony to this belief and has ample evidence to demonstrate the ill effect of prison
incarceration on the personality of its victims or beneficiaries. Looking in retrospect we find that what Frank
Tennenbaun wrote many years before is still very much true. He had reasons to believe that “the institutional
experience is a concentration of stimuli adapted to develop delinquent interests”. He went to the extent of even
suggesting that we must destroy prisons root and branch. There may be some element of exaggeration in the
statements, but the fact remains undisputed is that prisons, by and large, ill serve as corrective and reformative
institutions. Punishment alone has not provided satisfactory results. To be effective, control must be
accompanied by treatment and rehabilitation so that when the prisoner is released he is less apt to commit
another crime than when he went to custody. Punishment and control should not be used primarily as a
managerial device to make it easier to manipulate prisoners in ways that minimize administrative problems. On
the contrary, the purpose of punishment should be to correct the motivations of the inmates criminal conduct.
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2. Open Prisons, Their Working And Utility...
Prisons have come to occupy the central place in the administration of Justice all over the world. The
prison system has come a long way from the concept of jails (which were the dens of lechery, debauchery and
moral corruption) to the modern prisons; a place full with all sorts of intramural treatment meant ultimately for
rehabilitation of offenders. Getting off to a slow start in the sixteenth century imprisonment as a form of
punishment became a major form of punishment of the nineteenth century. Let us analyse that how the
principles and purposes of prison administration have evolved from the ancient to present day India .
ANCIENT INDIA
The penology has its roots in ancient India. It developed under the connotation of dandaniti which literally
means principles of punishment. Manu, the great law giver, emphasised that danda was created as a derivative
of dharma. In ancient India justice was administered in accordance with legal rules which fell under any of the
following headsiSacred Law
ii-Secular Law
ii-
Custom
iv-Royal Commands
“Sacred law is embodiment of truth, secular law depends upon evidence, custom is decided by the
opinion of people and royal commands constitute administrative law “Of all these four customs were accepted
as most popular and essential principle in administration of justice. But whatever be the legal rule for
administration of justice, the king in ancient India society was the foundation of justice and punishment of
offenders was considered to be his sacred duty and because of this reason the king in those days was called
“Dandadhara” ,the holder of danda, i.e. ,the power of punishment or an incarnation of the Yama, the judge of the
souls of the dead. It was then strongly felt that “punishment protects mankind and keep watch when mankind
sleep. The whole world is held in order by means of punishment, for a faultless man is very rare; even the gods
and demigods are driven to perform their duty by fear of punishment .”
Off all the ancient punishments, the punishment by imprisonment was very uncommon and in the
ancient works, this type of punishment is rather rarely mentioned. It simply implies that the principle purpose of
prison administration in ancient India was the detention of offenders awaiting trial or execution of sentence and
to deter others from committing crime by exposing the prisoners to public gaze.
MUGHAL INDIA
Under the judicial system of mughals, Quranic law was the only law recognized in the country which provided
brutal punishments for crimes. The punishment for crimes were of four classesi-Hadd
ii-Tazir
iii-Quisas
iv-Tashir
During the Mughal rule in India punishment by imprisonment was not as uncommon as in ancient
India. However, it was not as widely used as in British India. It was Abdul Fazal, one of the learned ministers of
Akbar who gave an interpretation that Muslim rulers could award imprisonment to offenders. There were two
kinds of prisons, one for prisoners of high rank and the other for ordinary criminals. Besides regular prisoners,
under trials were also kept confined in jail. Thus, in Muslim India since prisons were used both for detention and
punishment of offenders the purpose of prison administration was not merely to keep the accused persons under
safe custody but also to administer prisons as a means for punishing convicted criminals.
BRITISH INDIA
The prison system as it operates today in India is a legacy of the British rule. It facilitated the
abolition of our antediluvian system of barbarous punishments and substitution of imprisonment as a chief form
of punishment for the commission of crimes. For the first time Lord Macaulay, a member of Indian Law
Commission initiated prison reforms in 1835 by setting up Prison Discipline Committee, whose
recommendations led to the adoption of the Indian Prison Act, 1894, which regulated the present prison system
in our country. A number of prison reforms made during 18 th and 19th century. On the basis of recommendations
of All India Jail Committee 1919 and Government of India Act, 1919, prison administration became the state
subject. This resulted in passing of various jail manuals in various states. After the advent of freedom, a new
phase of humanitarian prison administration has begun in India. Ideas regarding punishment and functions of
prisons have been changing. A new awareness of the problem of crime and proper treatment of offenders has
grown so much so that prison administration has off and on been subjected to severe criticism from the press,
parliament and judiciary.
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3. Open Prisons, Their Working And Utility...
“Overcrowding in prisons, prolonged detention of under trial prisoners, unsatisfactory living condition,
lack of treatment programmes and allegations of indifferent and even inhuman approach of prison staff has
repeatedly attracted the attention of the critics over the year.” The emergence of open prisons marks the
beginning of a new phase in the history of the prisons. The first scientific effort to modernize prisons in India
was made by Sir Walter Reckless, he submitted an excellent report on prison administration in India. As a result
All India Jail Committee appointed in 1956-57 made recommendations to set up open jails. The Government of
India again appointed All India Jail Reform Committee, with Justice A.M.Mulla as its chairman which
recommended to have national policy on prisons.Thereafter, in 1987, the National Expert Committee On
Women Prisoners headed by Justice Krishna Iyer was appointed. The report categorically stated that conditions
in prisons have not in any way changed since 1983.It has recommended induction of more women in the police
force in view of their special role in tackling women and child offenders. Later on following Supreme Court
direction a committee was set up in the Bureau of Police Research and Development to bring about uniformity
in prison laws and prepare a draft model prison manual. The All India Committee On Jail Reforms(1980-1983)
,the Supreme Court of India and the Committee of Empowerment of Women(2001-2002) have all highlighted
the need for a comprehensive revision of the prison laws but the pace of any change is disappointing. The
Supreme Court of India has however expanded the horizons of prisoner‟s rights jurisprudence through a series
of judgements. The inventory of available research material on Indian prisons as compiled by The Central
Bureau of Correctional Services nowhere reveals any study which is fully devoted towards prison community
and the steps taken towards their rehabilitation and reformation. Very limited research has been carried out on
institutions of open prisons in India. Further whatever has been done is mostly sociological in nature. Hence this
attempt is to take up study both from social as well as legal point of view.
II.
OPEN PRISONS: SIGNIFICANCE OF
The observations of criminologists, sociologists and persons engaged in prison administration reveals
one common observation that state of affairs in the prison is against the scope of reformation of prisoners
because after release from the prisons the convicts have to return to the society and then begins the real problem
and here comes the importance and requirement of open prisons. A huge number of convicts of undertrial
prisoners released from the prison every year and therefore object of prison laws and administration should be
reform oriented to reduce recidivism.In present time role of prison has considerably changed. Now the prisons
are no more custodial institutions, but these are the places where prisoners are treated in a human manner and
being educated so that they become more civilized and should realize their mistake and correct it. Though there
have been few attempts in the area of rehabilitation ,reformation and reintegration of released male prisoners,
still there exist a wide gap in existing knowledge in the area of rehabilitation of women prisoners. The problem
related to the detention of women after arrest is a matter which requires consideration .This question was also
examined by Law Commission in its report.The recommendation was that if there are no suitable arrangements
in the locality for such detention, the women should be sent to an institute established under the Women‟s and
Children Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956.In 1989 again the Law Commission recommended that this should
be done wherever practicable ,for such institutions may not exist in some areas. Without going much into the
details of radical developments, like the concept of part-time imprisonment in Belgiumand in United States of
America where the technique of part-time imprisonment was employed as early as 1913 under the Humber law,
one of the feature of new prison philosophy is the emergence of „open prison‟ in many parts of the world
including India. A pioneering effort in this area was the Witzwill establishment in Switzerland as far back as in
1891; similar development took place in U. S. A., U.K. shortly after that. However in actual practice open
prison materialised in 1930 in U.K. and in 1940 in U.S.A., while in India it was as late as 1952 .The philosophy
on the basis of which the open prison exists is reflected in the two dictums of Sir Alexander Paterson as follows:
1-A man is sent to prison as punishment and not for punishment
2-You cannot train a man for freedom under condition of captivity
This philosophy led to the opening of first British open prison, New Hall Camp, as a satellite of
Wakefield Prison .Here there were no walls and indeed not even a boundary fence The Americans also moved
forward beginning at about the same time as Britain, with open farm camps associated with neighbouring closed
prisons. Among the most famous American open prisons is the Californian Institution for men at Chino in
Southern California, a Seagoville and an open federal prison in Texas.
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4. Open Prisons, Their Working And Utility...
III.
PHILOSOPHY OF OPEN PRISON/OBJECTIVES
Open prison serves a dual purpose of eliminating criminals from society and reformation of offenders
under institutional treatment by blanketing out conditions which in the first place turned them to law violators. It
has undoubtedly open a new vista in the realm of correctional treatment, promising an offender greater freedom,
natural surrounding and lesser tension which culminate in creating atmosphere more conducive to reform
himself and to achieve social, moral and economic rehabilitation in the society. The best thing about the open
prison is that it is an antidote to what is known as „prisonization‟ of the convict. In simple words the ill effects of
institutionalisation and criminalisation denoting two components of prisonization get liquidated. Due to
excessive terrain and free movements the inmates psychologically feel relaxed and tension free which is a
condition precedent for bringing an attitudinal change and making him receptive to rehabilitative techniques.
The treatment of criminal by society is for the protection of society but since such treatment is directed to the
criminal rather than to crime, it‟s greater object should be his moral regeneration. Hence the supreme aim of
correction is the reformation of criminals not the infliction of vindictive suffering. It is obvious that overcrowing
in prisons itself result in deprivation of the available amenities to the prison inmates and promotes corruption in
prison administration. It also has an adverse psychological impact on the inmates and accentuates the problem of
maintenance of law and order within the prison.The inordinate delay in criminal trials is responsible for the
large number of undertrials and is the cause of detention of many inmates in the closed prisons. To ensure better
efforts and measure for protecting the rights and dignity of the prisoners and to facilitate the goal of their
reformation and rehabilitation, more open prisons to be set up. Open air camps in Rajasthan have proved to be
extremely successful and it is urgently required that such camps should be set up in all states with active support
of civil society.
IV.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The idea of prison as a comprehensive method for reformation of the inmates was advanced in America
and Europe under the influence of Montesquieu and Beccaria. The penal policy in post revolutionary America
was revolved on the question “how prisons could be organized to reduce the chance that the offender would
repeat their criminal activity. This approach expressed a definite attitude towards human beings that they are
modifiable for the better if given the proper opportunity.” During the eighteenth century mainly two prison
reformers, namely, John Howard and Jeremy Bentham shared both a revulsion against traditional punishment
and expressed that institutions could be built that would rehabilitate criminals and prevent crime. During late
eighteenth century many institutions attempted to test John Howards vision through practical trials. But these
experiments failed in reshaping the prisoners. In spite of revived ideology of reformation of prisoners in the
custodial institutions , in practice ,reforms and rehabilitation plans did not fulfil the expectation of those who
thought to implement a system of individualised treatment. But after pioneering effort in this area, i.e., Witzwill
establishment in Switzerland in 1891; internationally it was well accepted that, a person in prison does not
become a non person, is entitled to all human rights within the limitation of imprisonment and there is no
justification for aggravating the suffering already inherent in the process of incarceration. International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is the core international treaty on the protection of the rights of prisoners.
India ratified the Covenant in 1979 and is bound to incorporate its provision into domestic law and state
practice. It provides that,” all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect
for the inherent dignity of human person” Apart from civil and political rights, economic and social human
rights are set up in International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which states that prisoners
have a right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. The United Nations Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1955, although not legally binding, provides guidelines of
international and domestic law for prisoners and other persons in custody which are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
There shall be no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, colour, sex, and language, political or other
opinion.
Men and women should be detained in separate institutions.
Due consideration should be given to the separation of different categories of prisoners.
Separate residence should be provided for the young and child prisoners from adult prisoners.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 also provides that,”no one shall be subjected to torture or to
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. United Nation Rules for Treatment of Women
Prisoners and Non Custodial Measures for Women Offender, emphasises the need to change the laws
according to the needs of women prisoners because the rules adopted 50 years ago, did not, however, draw
sufficient attention to women‟s particular needs. With the increase in the number of women prisoners
worldwide, the need to bring more clarity to considerations that should apply to the treatment of women
prisoners has acquired importance and urgency.
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5. Open Prisons, Their Working And Utility...
V.
OPEN PRISONS IN INDIA
In India under the inspiration of Dr. Sampoorna Nand a camp was opened in Chakia in Varanasi
district of Uttar Pradesh in 1952 , the inmates were allowed to work on their own or in local factories and wages
were paid to them. Dr Sampoorna Nand was a great social reformer, thinker and philosopher. The Chief
Minister of U. P. Late Shri G. B. Pant, who inaugurated the camp, was so much moved by this scheme that he
declared that all such camps to be established in future will be named as “Sampoornanand”(saubhik sen gupta)
The open prisons exist in most of the states in India except in Union Territories. Till 1980 there were only 27
open prisons in India where as the existing position is that they are 44 in number and more than half of them
exist in the State of Rajasthan (23 in number).Finally, the concept of an open prison for women, which was long
overdue, has become a reality. The first open prison for women in India was established at Yerwada, Pune in
2010 and the first open prison for women in South India has been opened at Poojappura, Kerala in
2012.Selected women prisoners are shifted to these new prisons. Women prisoners here are allowed to roam the
premises and farmland in related freedom. There are many jails throughout the country only for men, now the
women prisoners may also be able to get the same benefits which their male counterparts are entitled to.
The Jail Reform Committee expressed its satisfaction regarding open prison in India specially the
Sanganar jail in Rajasthan where prisoners live with their families. The appreciation of open prison as an
effective institution for rehabilitation of offenders have been highlighted by Supreme Court as late as 1979 in
Dharambeer v State of U.P. the court observed that the institution of open prisons has certain advantages in the
context of young offenders who could be protected from some of the well known vices to which they were
subjected to in ordinary jails. The court therefore, directed the state government to despatch the two prisoners, in
their early twenties, to one of the open prison in the state of U.P. “without standing on technical rules, if
substantially they fulfil the required condition”.
VI.
CONCLUSION
While concluding I can say that the establishment and defects of prison are adverse to the process of
reformation and rehabilitation. More so, mixing of prisoners, without any scientific classification leads to
breading of more criminals rather than reforming them. It is well documented that 85% of the prisoners are
those who live in the prison for a shorter period of time, i.e., from 15 days to 6 months. Further substantial
number of short term prisoners is round up, those who are in and out of prison mostly. Hence, they suffer
between two cultures (one outside the world and one of inside prison) and this results in to cultural conflict
which itself is the basis for grievance. It was with this backdrop that open prison as an alternative to these ill
effects came in to vogue. Modern criminology lays emphasis on rehabilitation of offenders, i.e., creation of a
treatment policy which aims to resocialize the offender. The rehabilitation must come within the individual and
not through coercion. In the course of open peno-institutional treatment the offender continues as a member of
the correctional community so that he can develop within him the spirit of energetic, resourceful and organised
citizen participation. Treatment of offenders in open condition similar to outside world as far as possible has
found a wide acceptance in several countries and has proved to be a great contribution to the development of
progressive penology and professional approach to treatment of offenders at the international level.In the open
prison system, selected offenders (with least risk to recidivism) are placed under open air camps, with the
reasonable degree of safety. Such a system seems to be advantageous economically and socially and ultimately
is an exercise of providing opportunity for self development and resocialization. The emergence of open prison
marks the beginning of a new phase in the history of prisons. The philosophy of open prison is based on two
basic prepositions1-A man is sent to prison as a punishment not for punishment
2-A person cannot be trained for freedom unless conditions of captivity are relaxed and the gap between the
institutional life and free life outside the prison is minimized to ensure the return of inmates as law abiding
citizens.According to U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, ”An open
prison is characterised by the absence of material or physical precautions against escape(walls, locks, bars,
armed or spreared security guards),system based on self discipline and the inmates and by a sense of
responsibility towards the group in which they lives”Thus correctional facility under the umbrella of open prison
is very effective for the realisation of rehabilitative or correctional ideology without unnecessary from
confinement in a prison surrounded by high walls. open prison is more favourable to the social adjustment of the
prisoners and at the same time more conducive to their physical and mental health. The conditions of life in
open prison resemble more closely to normal life and consequently desirable contacts can be arranged with
outside world whereby the inmates be brought to realise that he has not severed all links from the society. By
this open prison helps the prisoners to augment his confidence and create in the mind of prisoners a genuine
desire for social readjustment.
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