The jail was built to exile the political prisoners in a

faraway land from the main land India and Myanmar.

During the First war of independence, the first batch
of 200 political prisoners were taken into the jail .a
total of 6 lakh bricks were used for the completion of
the cellular jail .The cellular jail comprised of 693 cells
each cell measuring 13 1/4 X 7 ½ ft. The cell was of 3
storied high. It had 7 wings in total which had all the
cells in them. All of the wings were connected to a
central tower known as watch tower the jail was also
close to police lines and was opposite to Ross Island so
that troops could be summoned immediately. When
the prisoners were called to do their duties, they had
to walk in a straight line. The prisoners were locked in
their cells at 6 or 7 o’clock in the evening and taken
out in 6 in the morning. There were various types of
punishments but the worst of all was oil grinding. This
punishment even caused death some times. The
prisoners had to make 30lb of coconut oil and 10lb of
mustard oil. It was nerve wrenching work, compare
this with a labor of a domestic animal like an ox in
Indian villages, an ox could only produce 5lb of oil in a
day. .The last four cells of the 3 floor were the ones
that were going to be executed. Although there are
no records of any prisoner being executed
The present cellular jail today has only 3 wings i.e.,
wing 3,7,6. The rest of the wings were destroyed due
to the Japanese invasion, capture and occupation of
the Andaman Islands during the World War 2 There
is one people tree at the site which is believed to be
more than 200 years. This tree has seen the
construction the jail, harsh treatment metted out to
its prisoners, destruction by Japanese forces and the
peaceful calm after the Indian government declared
it as a national monument.