Lal Chand has lived in Ajmer Central Jail for 33 months. An undertrial, he hasn’t been to court in 12 months due to the “non-availability” of guards. Chand is confined in Barrack 1 of Ward 10 with 65 other prisoners. The barrack has 10 fans — woefully inadequate, especially in summer — and no running water. The toilets and septic chambers are clogged. 

Chand’s is one of hundreds of stories detailed in The Closed Prisons Of Rajasthan, a study of Rajasthan’s prisons by Smita Chakraburtty under the aegis of the State Legal Services Authority. Chakraburtty previously helmed a study on the state’s open prisons, which are without bars and, thus, prevent incarceration in closed cells under unhygienic conditions. 

Her new report, informed by detailed inspections of 30 prisons across Rajasthan, advocates for open prisons to be the norm. Rajasthan has the highest number of open prisons in India, 39 in all. Open prisons are a “trust-based system which inspires reform of the inmates”, Chakraburtty writes, adding that they are “a cost-effective, equitable and humane alternative to the traditional closed prisons”. 

The Closed Prisons Of Rajasthan is a compendium on various aspects of the surveyed prisons such as overcrowding, the problem of “prison rotis”, prison wages, and living conditions generally. It provides a detailed account of life in these prisons, and offers specific recommendations to improve conditions for policymakers.

On overcrowding, the report notes that Rajasthan’s closed prison system suffers from “acute understaffing coupled with severe overcrowding”. For example, Ward 1 of Jaipur Central Jail can hold 47 inmates but often houses 75-80. The barracks are locked for 15 hours a day. They have night toilets at one end which usually have no running water, are unclean and clogged. The report notes that prison overcrowding denies the prisoners “basic human dignity”.

The report states, “After sunset, between 6 pm and 5 am, the prisoners remain continuously under lock-up. The night lock-up period is the longest period behind bars. As soon as barrack lights start dimming, rodents and roaches start sprawling into the barrack space.” 

Across Rajasthan, the report says, there is no running water in prison barracks. Night toilets are clogged and prisoners have no privacy; the toilets have no doors or any structure to obstruct the view. Many structures are also old and defunct: the central jails in Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer, Udaipur and Jaipur were built nearly a hundred years ago and, therefore, their sewage systems are broken. Toilets are cleaned by an “external agency”, which hires teams of 10-20 prisoners each to clean the lavatories with their bare hands using brooms.

Convicted prisoners work in prison workshops or in prison services. Wages are low — Rs 209 for skilled and Rs 189 for unskilled workers, not including deductions — and prisoners have no record of the number of days worked. The report notes that the “budget for prison wages does not arrive in time” so if a prisoner has earned Rs 5,000 in wages, he will only be paid Rs 2,000 “after several months”. “If individuals whose liberty has been curtailed are made to work in prison without wages,” the report notes, “then it is a contemporary form of slavery and bonded labour.”

Over the course of Chakraburtty’s inspections, she received 1,644 letters from prisoners about problems related to drinking water, food and medical facilities. One letter detailed disabled prisoners staying in Ward 5 of Jodhpur Central Jail, referred to as “Laachar Ward” or “disabled prisoners ward”. 

“Some of these prisoners got permanent parole but could not furnish the bond,” the report says, referring to the prisoners in Ward 5. “Inmates staying here are either aged, or have some disability. These are mostly inmates who have undergone long periods of incarceration…and have lost touch with family members.” 

One of the older prisoners is Dr Habib who, at 92, is one of the oldest prisoners in Rajasthan. Habib has been in prison since 1994. “He is physically infirm and cannot care for himself. His eyesight is fading and cannot hear clearly. Other prisoners care for him. He prays for permanent parole and being sent to open prison. He has also filed for clemency.”

Many of the letters received by Chakraburtty were related to “court productions”. The shortage of prison guards means over half of the undertrials, like Chand, do not go to court every day. Jaipur and Ajmer perform the worst when it comes to producing inmates in court, averaging less than 50 per cent. 

Chakraburtty offers 30 suggestions for improving prison conditions. These include demolishing “cage structures” in lock-up jails and long-term measures to improve sanitation and toilets. She writes that women prisoners must have child visitation rights and prison staff should undergo “better training and sensitisation programs” on prisoners’ rights and criminology. Her previous study on open prisons was taken cognisance of by the Supreme Court, which went on to endorse her recommendations.

As the foreword of the report, written by Justice S Ravindra Bhat of the Supreme Court, states, “The objective of the criminal justice system ought to be to rehabilitate the individual…rather than to punish with hardships. This must be the prime tenet and driving force behind prison reform…Such a humane system of incarceration can be revolutionary and can be instrumental in laying the foundation for a more just, egalitarian society.”