INTRODUCTION

Prisons in India, and their administration, are a state subject covered by item 4 under the
State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. The management and
administration of prisons falls exclusively in the domain of the State governments, and is
governed by the Prisons Act, 1900 and the Prison manuals of the respective state
governments. Thus, the states have the primary role, responsibility and authority to change
the current prison laws, rules and regulations.

The history of prisons in India and elsewhere clearly reflects the changes in society’s
reaction to crime from time to time. The system of imprisonment represents a curious
combination of different objectives of punishment. Thus, prison may serve to deter the
offender or it may be used as a method of retribution or vengeance by making the life of the
offender miserable and difficult.

Significance of Prison Reform

a) Imprisonment influences the detainee and furthermore his family living in destitution. At
the point when a pay producing individual from the family is detained the entire family
needs to endure and change in accordance with the loss of wage. The family needs to
endure monetary misfortune since they need to draw in a legal counselor, orchestrate
nourishment for the detainee, transport to jail to visit the jail and so on.
b) Prisons have intense wellbeing suggestions. There are a few detainees who are
experiencing different ailments previously entering to the jail or they get influenced in
the wake of coming in the jail.
c) Imprisonment upsets connections and debilitates social union, since the upkeep of such
attachment depends on long haul connections.
d) The size of the pre-trial detainees is higher than that of the sentenced detainee. Pre-trial
confinement period is the most open time frame for the manhandle of criminal equity
process. Despite the fact that pre-trial prisoners ought to be assumed honest until
discovered liable by a courtroom, and regarded in that capacity, conditions in pre-trial

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 detainment are frequently much more regrettable than those of penitentiaries for indicted
detainees
e) Overcrowded Prison: Prisons in India are packed. Because of this there is no partition of
wrongdoers of genuine offenses and minor offenses. Subsequently solidified hoodlums
may spread their impact over minor crooks.
f) In India, 71 percent of the jail populace is either ignorant or instructed beneath
secondary school. Larger part of these individuals stay in jail pending trial or conviction.
Latest measurements uncover that more than 67 percent of the detainees are under trials
and may keep on being held in packed penitentiaries for quite a long time. This makes
them one of the weakest segments of society.
g) Poor open protection and under-use of non-custodial measures add to the developing
disquietude of superfluous or delayed confinement. The ladies detainees ought to be
dealt with all the more liberally and permitted to meet their kids much of the time.
h) The detainees having a place with worker class ought to be managed a chance to go to
their fields amid reaping season on impermanent 'ticket on leave' so they can take care of
their farming.
i) The jail enactment should influence arrangement for cure of remuneration to detainee to
who are wrongfully kept or endure wounds to hard or careless demonstrations of the jail
work force. It is satisfying to take note of that in late decades the Supreme Court has
indicated profound worry for detainees ideal to equity and reasonable treatment and
requires jail authorities to start measures so detainees essential right are not damaged and
they are not subjected to badgering and barbaric states of living.
j) There is desperate need to achieve an adjustment in people in general demeanor towards
the jail organizations and their administration. This is conceivable through an escalated
exposure programs utilizing the media of press, stage and purposeful publicity will.

PRISON REFORM

The situation of the prisons in our country came into focus in the early 1980s, when as part
of the National Police Commission K.F. Rustomji highlighted prison conditions and the
plight of under trial prisoners. Activists such as Sheela Barse filed public interest litigation

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petitions on custodial conditions, and judges like Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice V.R.
Krishna Iyer passed landmark judgments. These means conveyed truly necessary alleviation
to a large number of under trials, who were discharged on individual bond or essentially
released. In any case, the circumstance on the ground appears to deteriorate by the day.

In trying to enhance jail conditions, we need to first address the low work force populace
proportion contrasted with nations that have more powerful equity conveyance frameworks.
Governments tend to decline to top off opening and increase the staff quality crosswise over
criminal equity wings. We have to make bureaus of remedial administrations, rather than
simply renaming jails as restorative homes.

We have to give money related and foundation support to deliberate associations chipping
away at the rights, welfare and restoration of custodialised populaces. Corrective surgery
alone won't take care of issues. Let us not get tempted by padded beds, western toilets and
single cell offices to house our detainees, for the sake of jail change. Introduce Status and
Analysis

a) Overcrowding of jails, under trials, custodial viciousness all are the gross infringement of
human rights.

b) Prisoners' wellbeing conditions decay in detainment facilities which are stuffed, where
nourishment is poor, sanitation lacking and access to outside air and exercise frequently
inaccessible.

c) Prison staffs are likewise helpless against the majority of the sicknesses of which
detainees are in danger.

d) Imprisonment lopsidedly influences people and families living in destitution.

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 e) When an individual from a family is detained, the disturbance of the family structure
influences Connections between life partners, and amongst guardians and kids

f) When discharged, frequently without any prospects for work, previous detainees are by
and large subject to financial prohibition.

g) According to the NCRB 1.2% of the detainees have psychological instability and they are
by and large abuseed and segregated and denied of their privilege of good wellbeing.

h) Poverty: Many detainees can't execute safeguard bonds or give sureties.

i) Little open examination in prisons gives the likelihood of infringement of essential rights.

j) Most of the introduced CCTV cameras are not working in penitentiaries.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS

Prisoners can be categorised in three manners as under:-

1. Pre-trial prisoners,

2. Under-trial prisoners, and

3. Convicted prisoners.

4. Detenues (under preventive detention)

Pre-trial Prisoners

Pre-trial prisoners are the accused, detained who are under the custody of the state
machinery for the purpose of interrogation and investigation, based on F.I.R. or evidences
found during the investigation. There is no specific charge sheet prepared either by the
police authority or by judicial authority. They are in the custody of state for very limited
period. They are entitled to have separate treatment appropriate to their status because the

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burden of proof always lies on prosecution and the accused always have privilege of benefit
of doubt. Until the accused is found guilty, he is to be understood as innocent person. The
state is authorized to take initiative to control the crime at the initial level to maintain law
and order in the society and moreover, to obtain the evidences and details of the offence
which is assumed to have been committed by the accused. These powers are very wide but
they cannot be utilized arbitrarily and adversely against the personal dignity and liberty as a
human being. Since the police is monopolized and authorized to use the force as state
machinery. There are several limitations on the police authority to safeguard the Human
Rights of pre- trial prisoners.

Under-trial prisoners

Under-trial prisoners are the prisoners, who are in custody of the state, awaiting their trial.
Their charge- sheet may or may not have been prepared by the police authority or judiciary.
In other words under-trial prisoner is a prisoner, who is in judicial custody (Jail), awaiting
the trial, in their case. Police investigation might have been completed or charge sheeted or
it may be pending.

Convicted Prisoners

Convicted prisoner is a prisoner, who is found to be guilty of some particular offence,

which is committed by him. after due process of law. He is punished by the competent court
as a penal action, to be kept in prison.

There are many possibilities for the pre-trial prisoners as well as for under trial prisoners that
they may be acquitted as an innocent after just and fair trial that they are innocent whereas
convicted prisoners are the prisoners who have to suffer the punishment for their offences
since they are found guilty of the offence and therefore, their liberties are restricted by the
State with the help of judiciary and jail authority as a penal action.

Detenues (Detenues under the preventive detention)

The preventive detention is a devise with the state to control the crime by keeping the track
record of habitual offenders and criminals; they are detained in prison as a precautionary
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measure and to safeguard the society. Section 151 of The Code of Criminal Procedure
provides the authority to the police officer to arrest any probable offender without orders
from Magistrate or without warrant if he feels that the commission of an offence cannot be
otherwise prevented because of the increasing crimes in society as well as increasing
organised crimes such preventive laws like PASA etc. are enacted.

Arrest, detention and custody or even judicial custody curtails personal freedoms and
liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of India but other fundamental rights are still
available to them as citizen of country, these rights may be for their survival, maintain good
health or may be for training, educating, recreation, earning, rehabilitation, reconciliation,
and human treatment as a human being during the stay in prison.

PRISONS ACT 1894

It is the Prisons Act 1894, on the basis of what the present jail management and
administration operates in India. This Act has hardly undergone through any substantial
change. However, the process of reviewing of the prison problems in India has been
continued even after this. In the report of the Indian Jail Committee (IJC) 1919-20, for the
first time in the history of prisons, 'reformation and rehabilitation' of offenders were
identified as the main objective of the prison administrator. Several committees and
commissions have been appointed by both central and state governments after Independence,
which has emphasized humanization of the conditions in the prisons. The need for
completely overhauling and consolidating the laws related with the prison has been
constantly highlighted.

EVOLUTION OF PRISON SYSTEM IN INDIA

The evolution of prison system in India is very dramatic. One may say that Indian prison
system is one of the very complex systems of the world to understand. In general three
phases may be distinguished in the history of prisons. During the first, which lasted until
the middle of the16th century, penal institutions were chiefly dungeons of detention rooms
in secure parts of castles or city, in which prisoners awaiting trial or execution of sentences
were kept. The second phase was one of experimentation with imprisonment a form of
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punishment for certain types of offenders, mostly, Juveniles. The third phase was the
universal adaptation of imprisonment as a substitute for all of the capital punishments.

Ancient Indian Prison System

Concept of Dharma and Danda

In India, the early prisons were only places of detention where an offender was
detained until trial and judgment and the execution of the latter. The first phase of
ancient civilization in India when Dharma was Supreme, the offender was shown maximum
tolerance, but that was

gradually ousted by political party of the King in the middle ages (Chowdhary, 2002:13).
The ancient period speaks of four methods of punishment (Danda) namely, by gentle
admonition, by severe reproof, by fine, and by corporal punishments and declared that these
punishments may be inflicted separately or together according to the nature of the offence.

The structure of the society in ancient India was founded on the principles enunciated by
Manu and explained by Yagnavalkya, Kautilya and others. Among various types of
corporal punishments – branding, hanging, mutilation and death, the imprisonment was
the most mild kind of penalty known prominently in ancient Indian penology. The main
aim of imprisonment was to keep away the wrong doers, so that they might not defile the
members of social order. These prisons’ conditions were totally dark dens, cool and damp,
unlighted. There was not proper arrangement for the sanitation and no means of facility for
human dwelling. Fine, imprisonment, banishment, mutilation and death sentence were the
punishments in vogue. In prison, fine was the most common and condemned person who
could not pay his bill to bondage until it was paid by his labour in the prison.

Mediaeval India

The legal system in the Mediaeval India resembled that of Ancient India and the
contemporary Muslim rulers seldom, if at all, attempted to tamper with the day to day
administration of Justice. During the Mughal age sources of law and its character was
essentially Quranic and remained same. Crimes were divided into three groups, namely,
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a) Offences against God,

b) Offences against State,

c) Offences against private persons.

Punishment for these offences were put in four classes, they were,

1) Hadd

2) tazir

3) Quisas

4) Tasir.

Imprisonment was not resorted as a form of punishments in the case of ordinary criminals.
It was used mostly as the means of detention only at the ancient time. There were many
fortress situated in different part of our country, in which the criminals were detained
pending trail and judgment.The only redeeming feature of the prisoners was that: the orders
for their release were issued on special occasions. Some rooms in forts popularly known as
the Bhandhi-khanas or Adab–Khanas were reserved for prisoners, and culprits who had
committed serious crimes were sent to such from different places. During the Mughal period
in India the punishment was given mostly as a retribution or deterrence. As in ancient India,
during this period also, imprisonment as a method of punishment was not a normal feature
of the legal system. Punishments were meted out side the prison and very few persons were
sent to prison. The principal forms of punishment were capital punishment, mutilation,
flogging, banishment fines and imprisonment.

Prisoners Reforms: Prior independence and Post-independence

The modern prison system in India was originated by TB Macaulay in 1835. A committee
namely Prison Discipline Committee,1836 was appointed, which submitted its report
on1838. The committee recommended increased rigorousness of treatment while rejecting all
humanitarian needs and reforms for the prisoners. Following the recommendations of the

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Macaulay Committee between1836-1838, Central Prisons were constructed from 1846.The
contemporary Prison administration in India is thus a legacy of British rule. It is based on the
notion that the best criminal code can be of little use to a community unless there is good
machinery for the infliction of punishments. In 1864, the Second Commission of Inquiry into
Jail Management and Discipline made similar recommendations as the 1836Committee. In
addition, this Commission made some specific suggestions regarding accommodation for
prisoners, improvement in diet, clothing, bedding and medical care. Accordingly, the
Government of India appointed the All India Jail Manual Committee In1957 to prepare a
model prison manual.

The committee submitted its report in 1960. In 1957, the Eighth Conference of the Inspector
Generals of Prisons also supported the recommendations of Dr. Reckless regarding prison
reform. The report made forceful pleas for formulating a uniform policy and latest methods
relating to jail administration, probation, after-care, juvenile and remand homes, certified and
reformatory school, borstals and protective homes, suppression of immoral traffic etc. The
report also suggested amendments in the Prison Act 1894 to provide a legal base for
correctional work.

The Indian Jail Reforms Committee 1919-20 which was appointed to suggest measures for
prison reforms was headed by Sir Alexender Cardio. It visited many prisons and came to the
conclusion that prisons should have not only deterring influence but they should have a
reforming effect on inmates. As a measure of prison reform, the Jail Committee further
recommended that the maximum intake capacity of each jail should be fixed, depending on
its shape and size3 . A Jail Reform Committee, 1946 was constituted in the year 1946 for the
formation of the jails. This committee gave the suggestions as: a) The child offenders should
be treated differently b) Modern jails should be constructed c) The classification of offenders
should be scientific such as; Women offenders Habitual offenders, Handicapped offenders.

Prison reforms after independence of India: After independence of India, the work on the
reformation of jails speeded up. It was accepted that prisoners are also human beings and
have right of humanitarian. So in 1956 the punishment of transportation (Kala-pani) was

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substituted by the imprisonment for life. In 1949 Pakawasha Committe gave the permission
to take work from the prisoners in making the roads and for that wages shall be paid.

Modern India

The prison system as it operates these days in our country is a legacy of the British rule. It
was an ingenious creation of the colonial rulers over our home-grown penal system with the
prime motive of making imprisonment “a terror to wrong doers”. Nevertheless it was a
great leap in the history of our penal reforms as it facilitated the abolition of our old
fashioned prison system of barbarous punishments and substitution of imprisonments as the
chief form of punishment for crimes in our country. In 1784 the British Parliament
empowered the East India Company to rule India and since then some effective attempts
were made for introducing the reforms in the administration of Law and Justice. At that time
there were only 143 civil jails, 75 criminal jails and 68 mixed jails in our country. In fact
these jails were an extension Mughal rule which were managed by the personnel of the East
India Company in their efforts to maintain peace and establish their trade.

PRISON REFORMS: THE CONCLUSIONS

1. Sympathetic behaviour of jail inspecting judges:The judges, especially the jail

inspecting judges should not be oblivious to the strict positivist approach to law that the
prisoner is liable to only that punishment, which is legally sanctified they should behave
sympathetically towards them as they are already distressed.

2. Probation: It is a very significant tool of reformatory penology which is basically a period

during which the convict ordered to undergo sentence, remains, instead of being in prison,
under supervision. It is a treatment device, developed as a non- custodial alternative which
is used by the criminal courts after guilt of an accused is established and the court considers
that imposing a prison sentence would do no good, since imprisonment damages scope for
the convict to readjust in the normal society after the release and his association with
professional criminals in jail often has undesired effects.. Such a suspension of sentence
during probation serves the dual purpose of deterrence for the convict (by acting as a threat

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of his being subjected to unexhausted sentence) and of reformation (by providing necessary
help and guidance to the probationer in his rehabilitation).

Parole: The ultimate significance of parole is that while retaining effective control over
him, it enables the prisoner a free life. Under the scheme, every prisoner is carefully studied
and the one who shows potential for correction and responds favourably to the disciplined
life inside the prison, is allowed considerable liberty and finally released to join the society
conditionally. It is considered as most important tool as reformation in almost all nations of
world.Furlough:it is a matter of right while parole is not, Furlough must be granted to the
prisoner periodically irrespective of any particular reason. Since the object behind this tool is
merely to enable him to retain family and social ties and avoid negative effects of a
continuous prison life. The period of furlough is treated as remission of sentence.

Pardon: as a mode of mitigating the sentence of the criminal has always been a
controversial issue since long. Proponents of power to pardon in the penal system argue that
it substantially helps in saving an innocent person from being punished due to miscarriage of
justice or doubtful conviction.. Despite all its shortcomings, the great moral advantage of
pardoning power of the executive lies in the fact that it is always referable to grant liberty to
a guilty offender rather than sentencing an innocent person.Open prisons: also named as
open air camps, open jails or parolecamps (being a sort of expanded form of parole), are
another such significant tool of criminal reformation, Open air-institutions are essentially a
21st century device for rehabilitating offenders to normal life in the society through an
intensive after-care programme.

Vipassana :It is a practical experiential way of understanding the mind-matter phenomenon

and purifying one’s mind of underlying negativities. . It equips one with the inner strength to
face the challenges of life in a calm, balanced manner, and gain mastery over one’s mind.

CONCLUSION

To ensure good discipline and administration, an initial classification must be made to

separate male from females, the young from the adults, convicted from the unconvinced
prisoners, civil from criminal prisoners and from casual from habitual prisoners. The
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principle protest of jail work is aversion of wrongdoing and reconstruction of the guilty
parties. Furthermore, the other primary protest was to draw in them in order to counteract
mental harm and to empower them to add to the cost of their support. The under trail
detainees constitute a larger part of populace in jail than indicted detainees. The under trial
detainees are dared to be guiltless and the greater part of them are released or cleared after
incomprehensible physical and mental misfortune caused to them by confinement because of
deferral in examination and trial. The courts have as of late been giving genuine idea to the
of human privileges of detainees and have, on that ground, meddled with the activity of
forces of directors of prisons in regard of measures for safe guardianship, great request and
train.

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