Barred beyond bars

We are among those who seek comfort in routine. That explains why we have not looked back at the Indian Prisons Act since the past about ...

We are among those who seek comfort in routine. That explains why we have not looked back at the Indian Prisons Act since the past about 100 years now. No matter how much spurt might have been recorded in the number of custodial deaths in our country; no matter how very miserably we might have failed in actually reforming the convicts; we somehow manage to keep our cool, because in that situation the pain doesn8217;t involve us, nor does it involve anyone close to us. And that8217;s where we mortgage humanity and nationalism to quite an extent.

Crime scenario in the country needs no elaboration. It8217;s marked with numerous instances to disturb the mind. There8217;ve been several published and off-hand reports on the wretched condition of under-trials in our so-called Sudharghars. One report said how women non-criminal lunatics keep languishing in jails because they have no place to go; another mentioned of an under-trial in Bhopal jail who died in an armed clash with inmates in 1995; yet another talked about a 13-year-old accused of murder who was sexually abused by adult convicts while in incarceration; and there are a plenty on women who get pregnant while serving prison terms.

There8217;s thus a lot about prisons which belongs to the realm of the absurd and yet belongs to the realm of the real. In this realm, those who deviate from the norm get punished. But there8217;s much more to the life of a prisoner than the mere fact that he has violated a law and is undergoing punishment for the same. An under-trial in Tihar jail has rightly put it:
No judge regards us with any sympathy, because they are firm in their belief that we are a danger to humanity. And so they lock us up and throw away the keys.

Many among us would denounce the above expression as a mercy petition by just another criminal. Very few would care to go beyond and feel the pain that lies shrouded therein. For the past about 200 years, we have lived with the idea that the one who8217;s confined is worthy of confinement alone. And so imprisonment, in its worst form, remains acceptable to us. The law-makers pronounce: 8220;What can be better than punishing the one who has dared a violation?8221; Perhaps, there can be nothing better, but then why8217;s it that the same person lands up in confinement again after few months of release?8221;

Because prisons are not serving a rehabilitatory purpose. Conditions in jails are such that an already mentally-ill convict becomes all the more sick by the time his term ends. Much data in this regard is not available. The Jail Department Report, 1974, shows how in Seraikela Jail Singbhum, Bihar, a record 143 deaths were reported in just three years. Twenty years down the lane, we can well imagine what the state would be. In 1995, there was a 300 per cent increase in custodial deaths in prisons all over the country. These trends bring us to the basic question If reforms are there, why are an average about 50 prisoners dying in India every year? Because punishment is not helping the convict lead a life of responsible freedom8217;.

Most prisons are filled beyond capacity and about 70 pc inmates are reported to be under-trials. What makes matters worse is that under-trials are not brought to trial for long periods which might extend upto a quarter of a century. Realising the gravity of this problem, Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, had declared: 8220;The winds of change must blow into our carcers and self expression and self respect creatively substituted for the dehumanising remedies and wildlife techniques still current in the jail armoury.

The winds of change have blown in some prisons. Yervada Jail in Maharashtra has prisoners working eight hours a day, and also learning a skill so that they can earn a living once they8217;re out of jail. Maharashtra8217;s net turnover from the prison industry in 1995 was Rs 350 million. Kiran Bedi also introduced a mobile petition box in Tihar jail to invite complaints from inmates. She received 50 letters a day, telling her about what was going on inside the jail, including homosexuality.

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The problem is grave and the only solution lies in treating prisoners as human beings first and offenders of law later. It has to be seen that the element of humanity is not taken for granted at any point of time. That8217;s where the process of correction will actually get initiated.

The writer is working as a sub-editor with The Indian Express.