NCJ Number
90693
Date Published
1981
Length
7 pages
Annotation
In India, imprisonment is intended as a humane punishment for crime and a vehicle for rehabilitating offenders. Although espousing such a correctional philosophy, India's prisons have in fact been neglected.
Abstract
During the last two decades, almost all of India's law enforcement agencies have expanded and been modernized, but India's prisons have received far less attention as measured by expenditures. The structures built in the previous century as maximum security institutions continue to house both adult and juvenile offenders, impeding the realization of modern penal objectives. The prisons are invariably found to be overcrowded. For housing purposes, the prisons do not distinguish between detainees and convicted offenders, between short-termers and lifers, or between mentally healthy and mentally ill offenders. The prisons offer some educational and recreational programs, but there is little planning and consistency in them. Mental health services are virtually nonexistent, and there is little in the way of vocational training and industrial employment. The penal code specifies two types of imprisonment: simple imprisonment and rigorous imprisonment. Under simple imprisonment, an inmate could remain virtually idle while in prison, but work is compulsory under rigorous imprisonment. This implies that work is punishment rather than a rehabilitative activity. Overall, India needs to review the purpose of punishment and correctional programs.