Sub: Criminology & Penology Chp: Imprisonment & Re-socialization Process

Module II: A: Imprisonment and Re-socialization Process

1) History of Prisons: Just like the present legal system, the modern Prison System of India is also product
of colonial system. Prison system and its roots may be traced back to the Epic age such as Ramayana,
Mahabharata and many other such documents. These mythological documents narrates that out of many other
state officials, at least one was there to deal with jail or kargriha. In Manusmriti some narrations are given
regarding prison system. The Archeological Survey of India has found the jail in which Ajatasatru confined his
father, Bimbisara at Rajgriha, the capital of Magadha. Account of Ashoka’s Naraka (hell) was included in the
ritings of Hiuen Tsang and Fa-Hien also narrated about the state affairs in jails. During the Muslim period, old
forts and castles were often used as prisons.
Before British rule in India, the Muslim law of crimes was applied in the country which, like other medieval
systems, was severe in its attitude towards criminals and treated them as incorrigible (habitual) without having
the slightest prospect of reformation. Though the Britishers introduced a criminal law system which was milder
as compared to the Muslim law of crimes in terms of punishments, the basic attitude towards the criminal
remained the same, i.e. punitive. It was only in the later part of the British rule and during the last three decades
after Independence that there had been a change in the attitude towards criminals, the change from punitive to
therapeutic or corrective approach. Whatever has happened in India in the field of correctional approach is the
direct outcome of developments taking place in the penological thought of various countries, particularly in
England and the U.S.A.

2) Aims & Objectives and Conditions (Problems): Prisonisation symbolizes a system of punishment
and also a sort of institutional placement of under trials and suspects during the period of trial. Since there cannot
be a society without crime and criminals, the institution of prison is indispensable for every country. The goal of
imprisonment is not only punitive but restitutive, to make an offender a non-offender. The system of
imprisonment represents a curious combination of different objectives of punishment. The isolated life in prison
and incapacity of inmates to repeat crime while in the prison fulfils the preventive purpose of punishment. It also
helps in keeping crime under control by elimination of criminals from the society. That apart, prison may also
serve as an institution for the reformation and rehabilitation of offenders. It, therefore, follows that whatever be
the object of punishment, the prison serves to keep offenders under custody and control.
With the change over time, the functions of prisons have also changed from custodial, to coercive, to corrective.
In early India, jails functioned on the principle of custodial care. With the assertion that a jail is for confinement
and not for punishment, prisons were concerned simply with holding prisoners while they waited for trial. During
the medieval and early British periods, emphasis came to be laid on retributive and deterrent aspects of
punishment. Physical torture, social degradation and restrictions on freedom were among the programmes used
for inflicting pain on criminals. Prisons were primarily used as penal institutions. No attention was paid to
differences in age, sex, nature of crime, criminal background or mental status of the offenders. It only after the
recommendation of the Jail Reforms Committee of 1919 were accepted that conditions in prisons gradually
improved and prisons came to be used for corrective purposes, i.e., for bringing offenders round to becoming
good citizens through discipline of work, education, and moral instructions.
The basic functions of prisons today are as follows:
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‡ Social isolation and confinement, i.e., to isolate an offender from society because he has proved to be a
threat to its organization, stability, and cohesion, and to keep him out of circulation and so securely
confined that his deviation from law does not disturb the peace of mind of the man in the street.
‡ Repentance, i.e., to keep an offender in an isolated place where he could ponder over the consequences
of his wrong deeds.
‡ Punishment and deterrence, i.e., to inflict some pain and suffering, on an offender (i.e., some
punishment) for violating legal norms, so that criminals should be worse off than the poorest of honest
citizens; law-abiding individuals must be satisfied that law-breakers are penalized and they are being
protected against the threat of recidivism; and members of society may be deterred from committing
crimes.
‡ Protection, i.e., protecting community from criminals by marking out persons who violate laws and
stigmatizing them so that others are warned against them. Criminal = Deviance + Prosecution + Stigma.
‡ Reformation, i.e., to change offender’s values, motivations, attitudes and perceptions and resocialise him
and restore him to community.

The Indian Prison System is characterized by the authoritarian, routinized and formalized pattern of
administration and negative attitudes of authorities. There is a lack of the enthusiasm and imagination. The
Government also sees it just as one of the welfare measure which should continue in its regular course. The
Prisons Act, 1894 requires remodeling.

The Indian Prison administration has lagged behind on the reformative side of the prison work, and focused
mainly on the deterrence. Further, economic conditions in the country do not permit to evolve better modes of
prison management. Some of the problems faced by the Indian prisons are as follows:

‡ Overcrowding: It is a known fact that prisons in most parts of India are overcrowded. The effect of
overcrowding is that it does not permit segregation among convicts – those punished for serious offences
and for serious offences and for minor offences. As a result of this, hardened criminals may spread their
influences over other inmates. The juvenile offenders, who are kept in jails because of inadequacy of
alternative places where they can be confined, come into contact with hardened criminals and are likely
to become professional offenders. It is in the backdrop that the problem of overcrowding in prisons needs
to be tackled in right earnest.
‡ Prison discipline: The life inside prison necessarily pre-supposes certain restrictions on the liberty of
inmates against their free will. This consciousness of subjection to compulsive forces of the State through
the agency of prison often leads to scuffle or conflicts between prison officials and the inmates.
The general causes of prison-riots and disturbances are political instigations, monotonous routine of
prison life, crude disciplinary measures, differences with the prison staff, etc.
‡ Criminality of prisons: Being unable to control their sex desire, the prisoners quite often resort to
unnatural offences such as homosexuality and sodomy, etc. Therefore such offences and personal
assaults are common inside prison walls. Another cause of criminality among prison inmates is their
frequent quarrelling inside the institution. Every inmate tries to establish his superiority over his fellow
prisoners. Group rivalry resulting into clashes between the inmates is a common feature.
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‡ Problems of women prisoners: Some of the problems faced by women prisoners are not only different
but also much more acute as compared to those faced by their male counterparts. The female
vulnerability to sexual exploitation is enhanced in the male dominated prison set up. Rehabilitation and
social acceptance is more difficult in the case of female convicts. In general, a female prisoner is in greater
need of privacy, seclusion, medical and psychiatric care; facilities which are generally inadequate for all
prisoners, male or female. There is the problem of young children’s placement when the mother is serving
a jail term. The prison rules permit children of five to six years to stay with their prisoner mothers but the
problem of slightly older children presents complex humanitarian and social dimensions.
‡ Health hazards: Overcrowding, bad ventilation, bad drainage, insufficiency of clothing, sleeping on the
ground, deficiency of personal cleanliness, insufficient medical inspection, etc., are the various factors
which have a damaging effect on the health of the prisoners.
‡ Nutrition and hygiene: The problem of health hazards in Indian prisons has been felt right from the
beginning of the present system. The state of health of prisoners is also an important issue which needs
attention of the prison authorities. The term ‘state of health’ includes the description regarding past and
present addiction and disease of the new entrants and its duration and treatment taken etc. The other
component of the problem is the food given to prisoners. The present policy at least in theory, is to
provide standard diet sufficient enough to preserve health and strength. But how much of the prescribed
food and of what quality reaches the prisoner is a matter of speculation for it is common knowledge that
corruption is rampant in jail administration. There are also inadequate medical facilities in various prisons
of the country. Though prison rules made it mandatory to have a medical examination of the prisoner at
the time of admission, but in most of the cases it has remained a mere formality.
‡ Violation of prisoner’s rights: A prisoner has certain personal (e.g. meeting with family members and
friends), legal and constitutional (e.g. access to court and legal facilities, right to speech and expression),
political (relating to elections – right to vote) and religious rights. These rights are often denied to them
by the prison administration.
‡ Suicide in Prison: A total of 1,332 prisoners were reported dead in jails due to natural and unnatural
causes during 2011 in the country out of which 1,244 were natural deaths and 88 were due to unnatural
causes. Most of the unnatural deaths have occurred due to suicide (68). Various studies were made in
this regard in the European countries. Unfortunately, in India, we do not have much empirical study on
suicide. In the last few decades various studies were made. Most common factors contributing suicide
are nothing but a combination of institutional factors, individual vulnerabilities and poor coping skills.
Other factor such as duration of incarceration (imprisonment), clinical and social circumstances, may also
be counted.

3) Types of Prisons: At one point of time in the history of prison system and prison administration, prisons
were considered as a ‘House of Captives’ where prisoners were kept for punishment. However, since 1787, when
group of influential Philadelphians known as Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons
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came into being (now the Pennsylvania Prison System) a movement for prison reform started worldwide. The
idea behind the movement was that each and every individual including prisoners is subject to environmental
influence, and thus capable of being reformed as honorable citizens. From this, a web of reforms and reformatory
system started through various tools and techniques including meditation. Prisoners were classified and
categorized into various groups and as per the need of given group various efforts were made to bring reforms.
The Pennsylvania System was the first attempt to rehabilitate criminals by classifying and separating them on
the basis of their crimes.

During the eighteenth century, the New York prison officials developed two major systems of prison organization
–

‡ Auburn system, penal method of the 19th century in which persons worked during the day and were kept
in solitary confinement at night, with enforced silence at all times. The silent system evolved during the
1820s at Auburn Prison in Auburn, N.Y., as an alternative to and modification of the Pennsylvania
system of solitary confinement, which it gradually replaced in the United States. Later innovations at
Auburn were the lockstep (marching in single file, placing the right hand on the shoulder of the man
ahead, and facing toward the guard), the striped suit, two-foot extensions of the walls between cells, and
special seating arrangements at meals—all designed to insure strict silence. The Auburn and Pennsylvania
systems were both based on a belief that criminal habits were learned from and reinforced by other
criminals.
‡ Elmira system, American penal system named after Elmira Reformatory, in New York. In 1876 Zebulon
R. Brockway became an innovator in the reformatory movement by establishing Elmira Reformatory for
young felons. Brockway was much influenced by the mark system, developed in Australia by Alexander
Maconochie, whereby credits, or marks, were awarded for good behaviour, and a certain number of
marks being required for release. To this system Brockway added a new regimen of moral, physical, and
vocational training. The Elmira system classified and separated various types of prisoners, gave them
individualized treatment emphasizing vocational training and industrial employment, used indeterminate
sentences, rewarded good behaviour, and paroled inmates under supervision.

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Elmira Reformatory gave the reformatory movement two important philosophical tenets: first, the
importance of specialized care for youthful offenders, recognizing both the individuality of prisoners and
their similarity; second, the recognition that up to a certain age every criminal ought to be regarded as
potentially a good citizen. This reformatory ideology gradually entered the U.S. prison system and also
affected European correctional practices.

Central Women Borstal

Jail Jails School

Special
Open Jail
Jail

‡ Central Jail: The criterion for a jail to be categorized as a Central Jail differs from state to state. However,
the common features observed in all the State/UTs are that the prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for
a longer period (more than 2 years) are confined in the Central Jails, which have larger capacity in
comparison to other jails. These jails also have rehabilitation facilities.
‡ Women Jails: These are exclusively for women prisoners, and as per 2011 Prison records, there are 12
Women prisons.
‡ Borstal Schools: The objective behind having a Borstal Schools is to ensure care, welfare and rehabilitation
of young offenders in a different environment suitable for children and keep them away from
contaminating atmosphere of the prison. The juveniles in conflict with law detained in Borstal Schools are
provided various vocational trainings. They are also given education with the help of trained teachers.
‡ Open Jail: This type represents that type of prison in which prisoners with good behaviour satisfying
certain norms prescribed in the prison rules are admitted. Minimum security is kept in such prisons and
prisoners are engaged in agricultural activities. As per 2011 Prison Statistics, 14 States have functioning
Open Jails.
‡ Special Jail: The meaning is any prison provided for the confinement of a particular class or particular
classes of prisoners such as prisoners who have committed serious violations of prison discipline;
prisoners showing tendencies towards violence and aggression; difficult discipline cases of habitual
offenders and difficult discipline cases from a group of professional/organized criminals.

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4) Success and Failure of Prisons: There have been tremendous quantum of attempts that have been
made in the reformative measures of prison community. For many persons the ‘prisonisation’ does not
cease. Some of the patterns of prison community are learned and accepted by some of the inmates as a
part of their life. There is prison culture, which is characteristic of its own.
It is worth to have a cursory view of an ideal prison model as envisaged below (The Model Prison Manual,
1960):
i. Institutions for delinquent children – Delinquent children will be kept in Remand Homes and
Certified Schools in accordance with the provisions of the Children Act. Now Juvenile Justice Act,
delinquent children below the age of 16 years shall not be admitted in institutions meant for
adolescent and adult offenders;
ii. Institutions for adolescent offenders;
iii. Institutions for non-habitual adult offenders;
iv. Institutions for habitual, professional and organized criminals;
v. Special institution for difficult discipline cases;
vi. Annexes/institutions for women offenders;
vii. Units for inmates suffering from mental disorders;
viii. Units for old and infirm inmates;
ix. Leprosy Units;
x. T.B. Units;
xi. Annexes/institutions for under trial prisoners;
xii. Sub-jails;
xiii. Open institutions.

The Model Prison Manual has recommended to set up a correctional social work units in the prisons,
which should consist of psychiatric, psychological and correctional social workers whose duties to be as
follows:

i. To make social study of the inmates through personal interviews and from family and social
agencies and other sources.
ii. To clarify problems of the inmates and dealing with the difficulties in institutional life.
iii. To participate in the orientation, classification and re-classification programmes.
iv. To establish cooperation and understanding between the inmates and the prison administration.
v. To assist the inmates for developing contacts with their families and also to provide assistance to
the family members of the inmates.
vi. To participate in the pre-release programmes and to help the inmates for establishing contacts
which may be useful for them after release.

The failures of the prisons are the problems faced by inmates that require proper attention. If the
problems are not solved and ameliorated there will be violence, prison riots and commission of crimes
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like homosexuality, drug abuse, etc. Prison victimization includes physical, sexual, economic,
psychological and social. The most feared form of prison violence is prison riot. Even though prison riots
are spontaneous, yet it can be predicted with moderate accuracy if the prison staff is quite vigilant. Sexual
abuse, drug abuse, escape, etc. are some of the problems which are inherent. As a correctional institution,
if the administrative machinery acts as a watch-dog on the activities of the inmates not accrue and create
turbulence. The futuristic systematic planning has to be predictive rather than prescriptive. Enough
attention should also be paid to prison nutrition, prison sanitation, prison medical care, social life, social
control and group therapy to the prison community.

5) Discipline and Control: Prison discipline is the regulatory measure for an orderly self-respecting
community, which aims at self-reliance, self-control and self-discipline which in turn is to transform the
prisoner as a good citizen. The Prison Manual codifies the discipline and prescribes the punishment also.
Some of the indiscipline of prisoners are:
i. Refusal to work,
ii. Quarrellings, assault and muting,
iii. Possession of contraband articles,
iv. Miscellaneous such as omitting or refusing to keep the prison clean, removing, defacing or altering
marks of badges, etc.

The punishments include charge to hard and irksome labour, separate confinement not exceeding 14
days at one time, etc. Withholding of prisoners’ privileges also act as a deterrent punishment
whomsoever violates prison discipline. For prisoners who are disciplined and conduct themselves with
the prison rules and regulations get the ‘remission marks’ which in turn is in the reduction in the duration
of conviction. It would not be an exaggeration to say that since prisoners are a conglomerative (mix)
community, if due care and caution is not taken to tone up and transform the prisoners, there will be an
increase in crime rate in prisons.

6) Open Air Institutions: With the advent of modern prison policies, open air prison came into being
with a view to afford the prisoner a sense of responsibility. In open prison there is no armed guard, bars,
confining walls and locks. The prisoners are allowed to move around freely and to maintain self-discipline
and to earn their livelihood by means of labour. The minimum security is provided and the prisoners have
self-control and self-realization and put in their efforts in labour. Most of the open institutions have
agricultural farms in which prisoners work by toiling and moiling and the sale proceeds of the products
are their remunerative earning.
There has been vehement (forceful) criticism about the open prison with special reference to Indian
conditions. Undoubtedly there are a few merits and demerits in every system and so much so with the
open institution as well.
Open Prisons Experiments:
A. Uttar Pradesh: An experiment of open prisons has been made in some States. In Uttar Pradesh
Sampurnanand camps were established wherein casual prisoners and habitual with not more than

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one previous conviction, which convicts belong to Uttar Pradesh, of the age group of 21 to 50
years, not having boyish looks, sentenced to a period of one year and above with unexpired
sentences of at least six months are admitted when they have undergone 1/8 th part of their
sentence in case of remission (the cancellation of a penalty) of sentences upto 5 years and have
to 4 years only where they are sentenced 5 to 10 years. In other cases of convicts sentenced to
above 10 years, the condition for their admission to open prison is that they should have
completed 2/3rd part of their sentence including remission if any.
Other condition for their admission to open prisons is that they should be of good conduct, they
should not have been punished for jail offences more than once a year and be of good mental and
physical health. The prisoners who are convicted for political offences and agitations, escapes
under special powers or convicted under section 153-A, 216-A, 231, 232, 295, 298, 303, 309, 328,
364, 380, 389, 417 and 498 I.P.C. are not eligible for admission to open prisons.

B. Punjab: In Punjab also open prison system has been experimented. There the casual prisoners
aged 21 to 50 years, of a sound body fit for hard work, of uniformly good conduct in the prison
period, sentenced to Rigorous Imprisonment for one year and above are eligible for admission to
such prisons, subject to the conditions that:
 The prisoners sentenced to 7 years, should have undergone 1/4 th of the substantive
sentence; and
 The prisoners sentenced to more than 7 years including life-sentenced should have
undergone 1/3rd of their substance sentence. The period of life sentence will be considered
to be imprisonment for 14 years.

7) Probation and Parole: * Note: Photocopy attached herewith after (pg. 185 to 206).

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