NCJ Number
223929
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: May/June 2008 Pages: 29,30,34
Date Published
May 2008
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the advantages and limitations of India’s open prisons.
Abstract
Of India’s 1,328 correctional facilities, 27 are open prisons. There are three categories of open prisons. One category consists of open farms where inmates do farming and agricultural work assigned to them and live in open areas with other eligible inmates. Another category consists of open farms where inmates do farming and agricultural work assigned to them and live in an open farm area with their families and the families of other eligible inmates. A third category consists of open camps where inmates work their own trades and occupations and build their own houses where they live with their families. The advantages of open prisons in India are being less costly than traditional prisons, their ease of establishment, fewer staff required, humaneness, and inmates’ reduced time in locked cells. Open prisons also teach inmates self-reliance, cooperation, and community and family living. The limitations of open prisons are their limited success with female offenders (family members typically abandon female offenders), difficulty of gaining acceptance from communities where open prisons are located, and complaints from crime victims and their families that open prisons are not sufficiently punitive. 3 notes, 6 references