From Mumbai’s Dongri Jail to children’s home: A 212-year-old building’s journey through passage of time

Records show that the jail in Umerkhadi occupied an area of 10,674 square yards and was known as the Common Prison, which consisted of the civil jail, the criminal jail as well as a hospital with 32 beds.

Jayakar explained that the criminal jail was divided into a hard labour yard, offices, punishment cell, female yard and quarantine yard and the civil jail had a separate entrance and comprised of a large dormitory. The inmates largely comprised of defaulting debtors, people who failed to pay government dues or the amount of forfeited bonds and females were sued for restitution of conjugal rights. They were fed at the cost of Judgment of Creditors and were not forced to do any work.

While the criminal jail could accommodate 181 male and 31 female prisoners, the civil jail had space for 36 males with a separate building for female inmates and cells for Europeans with exercise yard. “Native criminals were sentenced to either death, imprisonment or transported by the Bombay High Court. Female prisoners, native prisoners awaiting their trial or those sentenced to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year were confined to the common prison and everyone was employed in picking old cordage, grinding, spinning and manufacture of cloth for their own use,” said Jayakar. Over the years, Jayakar said that the number of inmates grew and it became difficult to house all the convicts at the Umerkhadi jail. Thus, a ‘house of correction’ was built at Byculla in 1827 which had the capacity to hold 262 convicts who could be taught certain skills for life after their release from prison.

Over the next few decades, as the intensity of the freedom struggle gained momentum, the number of inmates also rose. Shrikant Murthy, a former deputy chief officer who has spent over three decades at the Children’s Home, said that in the early 1920s, social workers voiced their concerns over the moral dangers that children were being exposed to.

“There was a spurt in the number of cases of juvenile delinquency, especially in cases of petty thefts. Social workers thought of a place of safety for such children below the age of 14-15 years instead of handing death sentences to them,” he said. A conference of social workers was then held in 1924 and subsequently, the Bombay Child Act was passed in the same year.

Murthy pointed out that the British government had realised that the Umerkhadi jail was in a poor condition and was unfit to house the inmates. “The jail was overcrowded and dingy which was inhuman even for the hardened criminals. The British government thus decided to shift all the inmates to Arthur Road jail in the 1920s,” he said. The social workers were looking for a building which can accommodate the delinquent children and approached the British government who allowed them to use the Umerkhadi jail premises. “On May 1, 1927, the Umerkhadi remand home became the first institution for the Bombay Child Act followed by other correctional facilities and the juvenile court was also started on the same day,” said Murthy.

He added that the building housing the inmates had six large cells which could accommodate 20-25 people and 20 smaller cells for inmates who committed heinous crimes. The cells were later converted into the staff quarters and offices for the probation officers while retaining the original cast iron bars. The children are now housed in dormitories in separate sections for boys and girls and the observation home can accommodate up to 550 children.

Despite its historical significance, officials at the observation home said that apart from a few repairs, the structures which were a part of the old jail premises as well as the kitchen area are in need of restoration and are yet to be labelled as heritage. Owing to its dilapidated state, the jailor’s bungalow was demolished last year and a new building will be constructed in its place which will serve as dormitories for the juvenile inmates.