NCJ Number
94443
Date Published
1983
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This discussion of open prisons focuses on the Prisoners' Agricultural Colony in Anantapur, India, concluding that it is successful because of improvements in the inmates' health, work habits, general conduct, and low recidivism rates.
Abstract
Open prisons are a postindependence phenomenon in India, with the first openig in Uttar Pradesh in 1949. There are now 33 open prisons which try to provide inmates with useful and meaningful work under conditions which restore dignity, self-respect, and a sense of achievement. The Anantapur Open Prison was inaugurated in 1955 and has the appearance of a good farm rather than a jail camp. Inmates are given more remission days for good behavior than persons in closed prisons and other special amenities, such as liberal furloughs and paroles. Other services include a teacher for adult illiterates, a library, and recreational activities. All inmates are treated alike and not paid any wages. They are involved in agricultural activities, dairy farming, brick manufacture, and well construction and maintenance. Prisoners are selected from the closed prisons according to certain criteria. While inmates work under minimal supervision, only 24 prisoners have escaped in the last 17 years and there have been few recidivists. The article provides information on the farming operations, disciplinary system, staffing, and aftercare services. A review of difficulties facing open prisons focuses on the demoralizing impact of an amendment to the penal code which states that a person convicted after 1978 for life imprisonment cannot be released earlier than 14 years of actual imprisonment.