Prison Administration in India

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A CRITICAL STUDY OF PRISON ADMINISTRATION IN INDIA I. INTRODUCTION:- The word ‘prison’ can be traced back to the Latin word, ’prensio’, “the action or power of making an arrest”. This in turn is derived from the verb, ‘prehendere’ or ‘prendere’ which meant “to take hold of, take into custody, arrest”. Prisonization symbolizes a system of punishment and also a sort of institutional placement of under-trials and suspects during the period of trial. Since there cannot be a society without crime and criminals, the institution of prison is indispensible for every country. The history of prisons clearly reflects the changes in society’s reaction to crime from time to time and the system of imprisonment represents a curious combination of different objectives of punishment. A prison may thus serve to deter the offender or it may be used as a method of retribution or vengeance, while it also fulfils the preventive purpose of punishment by the eliminations of criminals from the society. That apart from the abovementioned purposes it may also serve as an institution for the reformation and rehabilitation of offenders. Thus whatever be the object of punishment, the prison serves to keep offenders under control and custody. The origin of prison is inter-linked with the system of imprisonment which originated in the first quarter of the 19th century. Initially, prisons were used as detention houses for under-trials. Persons who were guilty of some political offence or war crimes or who failed to pay their debts or fines were lodged in prison cells with a view to extracting confession from them or securing the payment of debts or fines. However the modern progressive view regards crime as a social disease and favors treatment of offenders through non-penal methods such as probation, parole, open jails etc. Thus whatever be the
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