The Ideal Form Of Prison Analysis

The concept of ‘prison’ is related with offence and punishment. A society cannot sustain without order and discipline. Such order and discipline is transmitted among the members of the society through values, tradition and necessity. But after certain point only values, tradition and culture cannot resist disorder. Accordingly regulatory bodies have to intervene for maintenance of the society. In the state-centric system ‘State’ has to play the effective role in maintaining societal order and state structure. Indian society is more inclined to societal values than state-centred rules and regulations. (De, 2015) The penal treatment in Indian subcontinent witnessed a gradual evolution from the ancient times where in the beginning of British rule in India the existing penal treatment of the society was evident where the forms of punishments include taashir, pillory, mutilation, hanging in public, mainly to create a fear among the subjects of the state which they might encounter if they went against the law.

With the British rule, labour remained an important form of punishment in the penal settlement where muscular exertion was believed as an ideal form to punish the criminal. Prior to the second half of the 19th century, British penal system also considered hard manual labour as an ideal form of punishment and as a result this period witnessed the provision of hard outdoor labour as an instrument of penance. Generally, the prisoners in this period were compelled to work in gangs in road building and constructions. In the Harinbari jail of Calcutta the prisoners who were arrested for rigorous crimes were compelled to repair public roads or in other public works outside the jail