Prisoners In India

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS IN INDIA

~Arnold H.T. Sangma, Research Scholar, Department of Law, Saveetha School of Law, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

ABSTRACT: The Ancient Indian Mahabharata depicts the prison system in India where the kings would punish the criminals by various kinds of punishments which were brutal in nature. They even followed a system of imprisonment confining the prisoners to wait for other punishments to take place. Since then they have learned that confinement in a prison cell is also kind of punishment. The modern prison system which is administered by the government mostly looks into the reformation of the criminals which is a good method for prisoners who have made a mistake in their lifetime and would

We could also observe in the ancient holy books of the Hindus such as the Mahabharata where they depict their stories including how prisoner were being followed. In the books there were about eighteen important state officials where one of them was the institution of jail known as kharagriha. In Manusmriti it was stated that the King had requested to make the prison on the royal highway in order to observe the evil doers of them being punished and mutilated. The ancient times followed brutal treatments in order to punish the prisoners. Some of the punishments included feeding to animals, mutilation, etc. Some of the prisoners would be locked up in order to keep them out of sight and wait for other punishments such as banishment, death, ostracizing which also included the locking up of Krishna’s parents in the dungeons of Mathura where Krishna was born. The pre Buddhist jails were found to be very cruel where the prisoners or inmates were kept in chains and under heavy loads and also activities of whipping occurred daily in these prisons. During the Muslim period, old forts and castles were used as prison cells and the prisons were not treated as cruel as the other prisons. In ancient times, prisons were mostly used as a confinement of a person who is in debt who could not meet their obligations, a person waiting to be tried and a waiting period onto what punishment should be given to him.

In the ancient times the kings would decide punishment to give to the prisoners. But in the modern period the order of the administration of Government was introduced where the prison administration would be looked after by another administration. Today, India is divided into Central Government and State Government where the state administers its states requirement while the Central aids the state in order to develop the state. The police officials are the enforcers of Law where they catch the person and keep them in police custody, within 24 hours they have to be presented before a magistrate. If the person is found guilty of his crime would then be transferred to a Prison and held under trial. Once after his trial if he is found guilty he would be convicted for his crime. The modern prison system is made in to reform the criminal without using force upon them. A prisoner is provided with all the Humanitarian Laws available to them. There are various types of prisons in India such as the Central Jail, District Jail, Sub Jail, Women Jail, Open Jail, Borstal Schools (for Juveniles), Special Jails and Other Jails. Central Jails consist of prisoners who are sentenced for a long period of time; states which do not have Central Jail would have a District Jail. Sub Jails are smaller in size and are situated at the sub-divisional level in a State. Borstal schools are for minors