A PRISONER’S LOT – HOW TO IMPROVE IT (PART 4)

JEAN VALJEANS – THE JAILOR`S NOSE -WHAT A GOOD STAFF CAN DO – BENGAL DÈTENUES

That the justice of man is most often too vindicative was never so vividly brought out as by the author of Les Miserables, centuries ago. Jean Valjean was certainly not a creation of Victor Hugo’s own imagination. The character was true to life in the Medieval France as in the India of to-day. Jean has the misfortune to get into the clutches of the law. He is condemned to the life of a galley-slave. A number of times, he finds his way back to human society and adopting a pseudonym lives the life of a good charitable citizen. But all the time the shadow of his past haunts him. And no sooner his identity is in some way disclosed than he experiences a metamorphosis within himself. The good and charitable citizen is gone, and he is once more the Jean Valjean of old. The custodians of law and justice mercilessly dog his heels till they actually send him back to the prison. What was true then is every whit true to-day – at least here in India. Police and Jail methods convert simple people led astray, perhaps, by the impulse of the moment into criminals and criminals into hardened criminals. As we said in our last, as a prisoner goes into the prison he does so as a man full of remorse. As he comes out, he does so as a confirmed criminal. Inhuman treatment in the jail divests him of the nobler spark of humanity. He comes out, after serving his sentence, only to find his way back there, before long. This is an evil that deserves the most earnest attention of a civilized Government. Jails must not be so many factories to manufacture Jean-Valjeans. They must serve as reformatory institutions so that when the ”prodigal son” should return home, he should do too as a better man. Perhaps the whole of his crime is that he has robbed some one of his rights. The law may by all means rob him of his liberty for a time. But what is actually done is that he is robbed of his humanity and that is certainly going beyond the limits of justice.

The Jailor’s nose

Treatment has a good deal to do with the discipline of the jail. I was not in the least surprised when the other day I heard of an attack on a Jailor’s nose. These attacks are common, and nose is the most favourite target for such attacks. I am no defender of violence, but I must say in most cases, those attacks are the handiwork of the Jailors themselves. The fact that the nose is one spot chosen should by itself suffice to explain the reason of these attacks. The Jailor is the man who inflicts, besides personal hardship, daily dose of disgrace and ignominy on the prisoners and at last there comes some last straw which breaks the camel’s back. He retaliates in the same coin—disgrace for disgrace. And according to the common conception, that can best be done by chopping off the nose. So, at some opportune moment he flies with his patra, a sharp blade, at his oppressor’s nose and off it goes. To ensure lest medical skill should re-stitch the chopped slice to the mother organ, the cleverer of the assailants make it a point to forthwith put the piece into the mouth, chew it up and swallow it or to throw it off for the kite or the crow to swoop down on it.

Sense of self-respect

For much of these troubles so common in jails, the main thing responsible is the contemptuous treatment meted out to the prisoners. I was glad to find that things in this respect are also much improved in Mianwali Jail with the result that though there is perhaps greater strictness about labour there than in any other jail, there is very seldom any breach of discipline. With good food and good treatment, the average prisoner does not grudge any amount of labour. One day I asked the Superintendent, Sheikh Murid Akbar, how he was able to create such a healthy atmosphere in his jail. He gave me the sanest remedy that could be prescribed. ”Why, only don’t let the prisoner lose his self-respect, don’t let him sink in his own estimation, and you will find him a most willing worker.” Treatment – that is the word. Inspire sense of honour and responsibility and you not only do good to a fellow man but also maintain good discipline. Inflict ignominy and you convert a fellowman into a criminal and render your own nose insecure.

A Good Choice

But the question of questions remains: What makes Mianwali so superior in tone and treatment? The personalities of the Superintendent and the Jailor. The Government, realizing this need, recruited suitable men from the P. C. S. and I must congratulate it on its choice in the case of Sheikh Murid Akbar. If more men of his stamp were forthcoming, I believe, Punjab Prisons could without much difficulty be converted into so many reformatory institutions. Sheikh Murid Akbar is moreover assisted by a piece of good fortune in having for his assistant, a man who is a thorough gentleman—I mean Abdul Latif, the Jailor. Without a well-meaning Jailor, no Superintendent can accomplish much. And it is rather difficult to pick out from the old stock a man of Abdul Latif`s behaviour. My only point is to show that the first thing in any scheme of jail reform must be – a good Superintendent and a good jailor.

The dètenues

In talking of Mianwali, my mind naturally goes back to the two Bengali dètenues there. It would be of interest to tell something of them. There are two of them, the victims of the lawless law known as the Bengal Ordinance – J. N. Dass and P. L. Mukerji. Each of these youngmen has already been in detention for about two years and a half. They are kept aloof from the common prisoners and this must naturally add to their troubles. Each has developed nerve trouble whereas Mr. Mukerji has the additional ailment or asthma. They are suspected of revolutionary activities and for the mere suspicion they are suffering a detention which is so seriously telling on their health. ’The Bengal Ordinance under which anybody and everybody might be ” detained ” for an indefinite term, on mere police report without any regular trial in a Court of Justice or the accused being given a chance to clear himself is rightly called a Black Law. It is certainly a black spot on the name of a Government supposed to be established by law and it is another instance of how political Jean Valjeans are manufactured. If the Government would care for the tip of a layman, I would advise it to forthwith release these youngmen. Magnanimity is the only effective weapon with which to meet the now awakening among the youth of India. Repression must, I am afraid, only lead to re-action with consequences for worse. It was highly improper to have banished these youngmen from Bengal to the farthest nook of the Punjab with few of the amenities of life to which a Bengali is accustomed. Mianwali climate and life were too trying for them, the only redeeming feature being that they received the best of attention at the hands of the staff – the Superintendent, the Jailor and the Medical Officer. But bare treatment cannot make up for the hardships of nature. But on this head, I need say no more. I understand both of them have already been transferred to the Presidency Jail, Calcutta. The Government will certainly add to its prestige by ordering, as the next step, their unrestricted release.

                                                                                 M.Y. KHAN

                                                                       The Light   August 2, 1928