Restriction on movement by confining the individual in defined precincts as a mode of punishment became common during colonial days. Macaulay's Penal Code, save for death penalty in some specified offences, largely prescribed various terms of imprisonment for different offences, prescription being of maximum sentence that Court can impose, leaving to the discretion of Presiding Officer to determine the quantum of sentence proportionate to the gravity of the offence charged. In ancient times, punishment by imprisonment was very un-common as is evident from the fact that ancient Codes rarely mentioned it (p. 5). In ancient times, and right up to the Moghul period, punishment took the form of torture and the underlying philosophy was "a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye". Modern approach towards this type of punishment inflicting human torture as barbaric and wholly unrelated to the object underlying punishing a criminal. Even now, capital punishment smacks of the remnant of the by-gone days because it is nothing short of limb for limb approach. There is strong movement for its abolition, on the ground that it is a cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the American Constitution. And yet, there are countries which justify such barbaric punishment as stoning to death one guilty of adultery.
The goals of punishment have been undergoing radical changes contemporaneous with the wider awakening about the rights of even wrong doers. Crime is the outcome of a diseased mind and jail must have an environment of hospital for treatment and care of mental disease. This approach eschews the deterrent and retributive elements of punishment and strongly advocates reformative approach.
The leaders of the movement of independence of our mother-land repeatedly suffered incarceration at the hands of imperial rulers. And prison under foreign rulers was "The Goal a place of dread". One can recall the horror of detention in Visapur jail of political prisoners’ of 1932 movement. The barbaric treatment. dehumanizing atmosphere, human torture and wholly unhygienic food made Visapur a place of dread. It was, therefore, legitimately assumed that the leaders of movement of independence who became rulers of independent India would accord highest priority to prison reforms by converting them from institution of horror to modern reclamation and correctional centres.
And yet, four decades after independence, we are governed by the antediluvian Prison Act of 1894. Imperial days jail Manuals have hardly undergone any noteworthy change even after a Model Prison Manual was drawn up, largely relying upon the recommendations of the First Congress in the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders. But nothing concrete emerged justifying a cynical belief that committees are appointed to avoid doing anything about the problem handed over to committee. The latest is the unattended voluminous report of Mulla Committee. The number of committees set up by the Central Government and the various States is legion. They have produced voluminous report. And, as usual, they are gathering dust in some pigeon holes. And prison continues to be the place of dread.
For a long time until the beginning of the present century criminals were looked with hatred, and society's reaction to crime was entirely retributive and punitive. The humanitarian social reformers of the civilized world have of late and very rightly been showing great concern for the reformative treatment of offenders. The progressive governments, particularly in the West, are now experimenting and implementing various schemes for prison reforms on grounds of social utility as well as humanitarianism. It is extremely unfortunate that in India, even four decades after freedom, the ghost of the British Raj still haunts our prisons more than any other institution. Much needed jail reforms are still pending despite the zeal of our great national leaders who spent long years in prisons during the trying days of India's struggle for freedom and thus experienced the horrors of prison life. No wonder prisons in India continue to serve as breeding places for hardened criminals rather than the correctional institutions as they should be. Official apathy and paucity of funds are indeed the great stumbling blocks to effective jail reforms. But there are many other constraints which must be courageously faced if we really want our jails to become reformation centres. It is this feeling which inspired me to choose jail administration as the subject of my doctoral dissertation. The present book is based on this dissertation which has been approved by the University of Calcutta.
The central figure in jail administration in every country is the most complicated product of our modern civilization-the criminal. The problems of jail administration throw up many more psychological, sociological, ethical, legal, political and economic issues than those of any other branch of public administration. This book is a modest endeavor to grapple with these problems in relation to operation of prisons in the Indian society and to suggest suitable ways and means for their solution.
I take this opportunity to record my profound sense of gratitude to my respected teacher late Dr. Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, former Centenary Professor of Public Administration in the University of Calcutta, for his unstinted encouragement and guidance in conducting this study. I recall with delight the illuminating discussions I was fortunate to have with him at every stage of my work. It remains for me a personal tragedy that I failed in presenting a copy of this book to him.
For getting myself acquainted with the practical side of prison administration, I visited a number of jails in West Bengal. Special thanks are due to the State Government which was kind enough to provide me with all facilities for that purpose.
I should also record my indebtedness to Shri Sukhamoy Dutt, Chairman of the West Bengal Jail Code Revision Committee of 1972-73, Smt. Sudha Mazumdar, a distinguished social worker, and several authorities and agencies, both at home and abroad, notably the American Correctional Association, the National Institute of Social Defence, the National Library, the West Bengal Secretariat Library for rendering indispensable assistance in many ways for the completion of my work.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to Hon'ble Justice D.A. Desai, former Chairman, Law Commission of India who has been kind enough to write a foreword for this book. His foreword must have added a few illuminating pages to the book.
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