Prison Visit

So, we visited the Central Prison in Bangalore on 24th July 2024. The reason I'm writing about this now is that, at first, I did not think I would be documenting the prison trip, but few thoughts came to my mind, so I'm putting them right here. First of all, this was a one-of-a-kind trip where we went to prison without doing anything against the law, and I intend to keep it that way in the future as well. The prison literally shocked us. There's no doubt that prison is a very different kind of place, yet it is just like a normal public place in India.

If we were to compare the prison with the rest of Bangalore, we could easily say it was not as good as Malleshwaram, but I can bet my life that it was at least a hundred times better than areas like Cottonpete and Chikpete. I think that with strict compliance, we can actually make India a little cleaner and better. The only difference between Cottonpete and the Central Prison is that in Cottonpete, people have been given liberty, while the prisoners have limited liberty. This seems like a hard pill to swallow, but prison literally seems like a better option than living in some areas of India.

What was most striking in the prison visit was how similar it was to a school or an educational institute in India. The similarities include a large area enclosed in a compound with a fence, hostel-like prison cells, strict timings for everything, and finally, teachers and jailors who go on to beat anyone without any reason.

Reform in prisons in India is a joke. It seemed like all the undertrials in the prison will go out and commit crimes again. The undertrials showed peculiar behavior; to me, it seemed like they were really enjoying their time in prison, and all of them had a kind of pride in being there. Group fights and skirmishes were common in the undertrial area, and generally, it was very chaotic.

The situation in the convict area was completely different. All the convicts showed patience and gentlemanly behavior. They were quiet and cooperative. There were no skirmishes in the convict area, and almost all of them were busy doing some work and ignored the visitors. Undertrials, on the other hand, were staring at the visitors. Some of the undertrials seemed more interested in boys than girls too.

One thing common among all the prisoners was that they were very intimidating. Almost all of them were stunted in height. They were usually short and skinny. I would say they were smaller in physical stature compared to the average in India, as poverty can be one of the main reasons most of them are in prison anyway. But still, they were very intimidating. Just looking at them, I knew that I couldn't take them on one-on-one despite having a better build than most of them. It felt like they had eyes made of stone locked on us, and their pointy, thin fingers seemed like they could pierce a man's flesh easily. Observing them, I felt that I could easily distinguish a criminal from an ordinary man without a trial. The prison visit literally changed my worldview. On one hand, I think that prison is better than living in poverty in India, but if we see it the other way, it is a hell for people who are rich and middle class. We were not able to see the VIP prison cells, so we cannot comment on what the conditions were like there, but the ordinary prison seems like a third-grade government school or college. People who can survive such schools or colleges will love prison.