A History of Assam c23.37

c23.37

The free and easy methods of former times are well illustrated by McCosh’s account of the jails. The prisoners were all put in irons, but there was very little discipline, and they were given an allowance of three pice a day, with which they purchased their own provisions from traders in the jail bazar. “Many of the prisoners,” he says, “lead rather a happy life and consider themselves as Company’s servants. They take as much pains to burnish their irons as they would a bracelet, and would not choose to escape though they had an opportunity.” On more than one occasion undetected burglaries were traced to convicts in the jail, who were let out at night by the jailor, and shared with him their ill-gotten gains.