NOTE: This article was published last year and it can be cited as -
Renu
and Deepika Sharda, Jail Warders: A Study of Patiala Central Jail, The
Perspective, MRS Police Academy, Phillaur Magazine, Vol. XV,
Issue: 1, March, 2015, pp. 69-72. (58th All India Police Duty Meet,
24th-29th March, 2015 ‘Commemorative Issue’)
Dr. Renu
Professor & Head
Dept. of Public Administration
Punjabi University, Patiala
Mrs. Deepika Sharda
Assistant Professor (Public Admin.)
Public College, Samana (Pb)
It
is a well recognized fact that efficient and well-trained personnel are the
deciding factor for the success or failure of overall administration. Well thought-out
and meticulous plans, policies and programs fail to accomplish the desired
goals and organizations despite good-intentioned ideology cannot succeed if the
human resource is not competent enough to manage it well. The
Punjab Jail department is no exception to it. The successful implementation of
correctional programs for the prisoners mainly depends on the quality of the prison
staff at various levels.
“Whatever may be the
official definition of prison as jail, work house, reformatory, penitentiary,
State prison, House of correction or whatever else, it is a place where the
punishment of imprisonment is executed. The prison is the manifestation of
people's tireless efforts, towards the discovery of curative and refractive
process.”1 Nevertheless, gradually, due to social awakening, growing
concern for human rights etc., jails have been designated as "Sudhar Ghar" to emphasize its
reformatory role. “The penal policy of the State has undergone great changes;
the punishment oriented objectives of imprisonment are no more relevant today.
Social reconstruction and rehabilitation of the offenders are considered to be
the goals and justification of punishment. The main objectives of the
imprisonment are prevention of crime, protection of society, reformation of the
offenders and rehabilitation of the offenders.”2 There is
commendable and sound rationale for this. “India shares a universally held view
that sentence of imprisonment would be justifiable only if it ultimately leads
to the protection of society against crime. Such a goal could be achieved only
if incarceration motivates and prepares the offender for a law-abiding and
self-supporting life after his release. It further accepts that, as imprisonment
deprives the offender of his liberty and self-determination, the prison system
should not be allowed to aggravate the suffering already inherent in the
process of incarceration... As early as in the year 1920, the Indian Jails
Committee had unequivocally declared that the reformation and rehabilitation of
offenders was the ultimate objective of prison administration. This declaration
subsequently found its echo in the proceedings of various Prison Reforms
Committees appointed by the Central and State Governments of the international
influences. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners, formulated in 1955, provides the basic framework for such a goal.
The international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, propounded by United
Nations in 1977, to which India is a party, has clearly brought out that the penitentiary
system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall
be their reformation and social rehabilitation. It is, however, seen that
whereas India is second to none in terms of an enlightened thinking with regard
to the purpose and objective of imprisonment, the gap between proclaimed
principles and actual practices appears to have been widening in recent years.3
It is high time to examine the reasons behind it.
It goes without saying
that if the prison administration has to achieve its new aims and goals of
functioning truly as a Sudhar Ghar, it
can be only through professional, well-trained, prison personnel. It requires
not only a complete restructuring of the prison system but also prison
personnel with a new orientation and outlook. Punjab govt. is also conscious of
its responsibilities and very recently, Punjab Jails Minister Mr. Sohan Singh
Thandal4 reaffirmed that Jail inmates are part of our society; the
Punjab government is introducing various new welfare activities for their
rehabilitation into the mainstream society. It is clear that in order to
realize the objective of transforming the prisoners into a good law-abiding
citizen with a healthy thinking; the govt. has to ultimately depend on prison
personnel and staff in the prisons. Among the various prison personnel, Warder
is one of most important officials of the Jail. Jail Warders, responsible for
guarding of Jails, are the main focus of the present study. A Jail Warder ‘assists
the Jail Superintendent at unlocking and locking up. He keeps the attendance
record of the prisoners. He is the in-charge of maintenance of Jail cells,
sanitary conditions and water supplies etc. He also takes care of whole
ammunition, uniforms, equipment of every description of the Warder
Establishment and account thereof. His subordinates are there to obey and
assist him.’5
Scope
and Objectives of the Study
The scope of the present empirical work
is limited to Jail Warders of Central Jail of Patiala. Patiala Central Jail is
one of the very old, huge and maximum security jail/sudhar ghar in Punjab. It is situated
near Thapar University on Patiala-Nabha road. “It
came into existence before 1930 when Patiala was a Princely State. With the
merger of PEPSU in Punjab in 1956, it came under the administrative control of
the Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab. The Central Jail, Patiala is under
the charge of the Superintendent of Jails, who is assisted by a number of
administrative personnel.”6 The present study aims to examine
the role of the Jail Warders of this Central Jail Patiala, their relationship with
prisoners, their perceptions regarding the terms of the service and the
problems faced by them.
Methodology
For
this purpose, a sample was chosen based on random selection of 64 Jail Warders
out of total 149 Warders in the Patiala Central Jail of Punjab during 2013-14. The
methodology adopted for the present work is based on primary and secondary
sources. Primary sources included directly obtained information through
personal interviews with the help of Schedule. The secondary sources included
books, government documents, various acts, newspapers and articles, websites
etc.
Major
Findings
Before studying the
findings regarding job and working of the Jail Warders, it is important to know
briefly the social profile of the sample of Jail Warders under study. A
majority of the Jail Warders was having experience from 21 to 30 years. Most of
the Jail Warders were males and only 5% female Jail Warders were there. Education-wise,
most of the Jail Warders had certificates of Middle Class and Matriculation
while only 5% amongst them were graduates. All the Jail Warders were well
conversant only in Punjabi Language.
Following are the major findings from the primary
data of the field study:-
·
All the Jail Warders reported that they performed
their duty for more than eight hours daily. Jail Warders in majority felt that
there was too much workload on them.
·
It was serious to find that the
relationship between the Jail Warders and the prisoners was quite tense as only 23% Jail Warders said
that they had normal relationship with the prisoners.
·
A very high majority of Jail Warders
found their salary either adequate or adequate to a large extent. Therefore, it
can be concluded that the Jail Warders were being paid sufficiently for their
work.
·
More than half of the Jail Warders
stated that they did not have any source for relaxation despite their long
stressful working hours and enormous workload in the Jail. Jail Warders were
not provided the facility of Library or indoor games; they had to rely on a
small canteen or they gossiped, huddled in a very small room.
·
It is ironical that overall, around 85%
of the sample of the Jail Warders found themselves insecure to varying extent
because of the bully kind of prisoners in the Jail. Its seriousness can be
gauged by the incident where in this very Jail, Jail staffers were attacked by
a group of prisoners last year.7 It is deplorable. “Life-threatening
calls and messages have also become
a cause of worry for the jail staff, including senior officials, as they often
complain about receiving threats from hardcore and dreaded criminals lodged in
the jail.”8 How can one expect the Jail to become a
correctional institute, if the Jail Warders, themselves, do not feel secure
inside the Jail?
·
It was observed during the field study that
overwork, job-stress, atmosphere at the job place coupled with a lack of enough
promotional avenues had taken its toll on the mental health of the Jail Warders
as some suffered from severe depression, low morale etc. problems periodically.
Unfortunately, it can result into an indifferent attitude in Jail Warders towards
crime and criminals which is detrimental for bringing a healthy and reformatory
change in the prisoners.
·
The number of Jail Warders was found to
be much less in Central Jail Patiala as against the sanctioned posts. Shortage
of staff combined with the over-crowding in the Central Jail Patiala is
worsening the conditions of prison which is considered one of the best sudhar ghars for its reformatory
measures. The severity of the situation in the Patiala Central Jail can be
understood from this that “against
the designated capacity of 1200 inmates, around 2250 inmates, including
convicts and under-trials, have been presently adjusted in 15 barracks and
100 cells in the jail premises.”9 Understandably, it is
making job highly taxing and nerve-racking for the highly insufficient number
of Jail Warders there.
Suggestions
From the above discussion, the following
suggestions can be given to improve the working of Jail Warders:
1.
It is essential to comprehend that if we want to
achieve the new lofty aims of Sudhar Ghar,
prison reforms must be addressed holistically and not in a fragmentary way.
Along with restructuring of prison system, urgent attention must be paid to reorientation
of prison staff as well as rationalization of prisons rules and regulations.
From this viewpoint, among the various directives issued by the Supreme Court
of India, in Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration (1979), the following deserve
a special mention to make the picture clear: “The Prisons Act needs
rehabilitation and Prison Manual total overhaul, even the Model Manual being
out of focus with healing goals. A correctional-cum-orientation course is necessitous
for the prison staff in calculating the correctional values; therapeutic
approaches and tension-free management”10 Although it is a
well-recognized fact that training is vital for enhancing the efficiency and
effectiveness of any official, yet it is sad to find that Punjab does not have
adequate facilities for all the Jail Warders.11 Therefore, it is
suggested that services of the Haryana Govt. can be taken till Punjab develops
its sufficient training facilities. Besides, it is highly recommended that considering
the massive workload and long stressful working hours of the Jail Warders, they
also need in-service counseling after a fixed time span so that they are able
to perform their duty in an effective manner.
2.
To deal with acute shortage of staff in
the Jails, government must go for recruitment of the Jail Warders at regular
intervals because a serious deficiency in the number of Jail Warders will adversely
affect the working of the Jails. Due to repeated incidents of Jail break,
recovery of cell-phones and intoxicants, drugs from within the Jail premises, government
announced in 2013 that it would recruit 560 Jail Warders, forty of them would
be women12 but the grim reality is that the Department of Jails has
not taken any significant recruitment during the past 16 years.
3.
It is worth pondering over that there
should be at least some Jail Warders having background of psychology so that
they are able to carry out counseling of the prisoners in the absence of
specialist counselors. It may help to bring a healthy change in the prisoners’
attitude towards self and society as well as a respectable relationship between
Warders and prisoners. Considering the tough challenges of the job in the
modern times, the basic qualification for recruitment for the post of Jail
Warder needs to be enhanced to 10+2. Higher bucks can also be paid to more
qualified Jail Warders.
4.
To redress their major grievance of not
having adequate promotional avenues, it is suggested that government must
formulate a policy for promotion of Jail Warders which is sufficient to check
demoralized mental status of this important functionary of Jail department. They
may be promoted as Senior Head Warder or more posts of Jail Deputy
Superintendent can be created for them so that they do not feel stagnated after
10/15 years of service. There were also demands to improve the housing for the
Jail Warders and build a guest house.
5.
It is welcome that in
the beginning of this year 2015, the Punjab Jails Minister
Mr. Sohan Singh Thandal said that the Punjab government
was facilitating jail staff with various services including providing them life
insurance cover of Rs. 1.25 lakh besides Rs. 8 lakh accidental insurance cover.13
This must be properly implemented to provide a better feeling of security to
the jail staff.
6.
The Jail Warders should be given modern
weapons so that they are able to face the emergencies suitably. If, in case of a
Jail break or attack, Jail Warders have to face them with the help of weapons
of British era, they will certainly be on the losing side.
Conclusion
It can be concluded
that Jail Warder is an important post in Jail department having huge
responsibilities. For the proper management of prisons and for making them
truly Sudhar Ghars, it is necessary
that Jail Warders should be recruited in adequate numbers and newly recruited
staff should undergo comprehensive training regarding modern scientific prison
management, effective stress-management and a new orientation towards the
prison-inmates. The Government of India must
also provide all possible financial and technical assistance to State
Governments to modernize prisons management and developing training facilities
for imparting most up-to-date training in tune with contemporary needs.
References
1)
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l355-Status-Of-Jails-In-Punjab.html, accessed on
11-1-15.
2) Training Report
of Punjab Jail Training School, Patiala, 2nd May, 1988 to 5th
May, 1988.
3)
http://bprd.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/1445424768Content%20%20Chapters.pdf, p.13, accessed on 15-1-15.
4) http://www.yespunjab.com/global/nano-news/item/59470-welfare-activities-for- rehabilitation-of-jail-inmates-a-priority-for-punjab-government-thandal, accessed on
15-1-15.
5) Dampreet
Walia, “Prison Law in India and Canada-A Comparative Study”, Unpublished thesis, Department of
Law, Punjabi University, Patiala, 2010.
7)
The Times of
India, 7-1-2014.
8)
The Hindustan Times,
11-1-14.
9)
Ibid.
10)
Model Prison Manual for the
Superintendence and Management of Prisons in India, 2003, p. 15, available at http://bprd.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/1445424768Content%20%20Chapters.pdf,
accessed on 15-1-15.
11)
The Tribune, January 30,
2013.
12)
Ibid.
13)
Supra Note 4.
