Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t7.44

c4.t7.44

Obviously, the hard and dehumanising treatment of the prisoners was, as is even now, intended to serve as a deterrent. To quote Bertrand Russel again: "the object of the prison administration is to save trouble, not to study the individual case. He is kept in captivity in a cell from which all sight of the earth is shut out: he is subjected to harshness by warders who have too often become brutalized by their occupation. He is solemnly denounced as an enemy to society. He is compelled to perform mechanical tasks, chosen for their wearisomeness. He is given no education and no incentive to self-improvement. Is it to be wondered at if, at the end of such a course of treatment, his feelings towards the community are no more friendly than they were at the beginning?"⁶ This is the present day condition of prisons all over the world, excepting a few cases. There is no exaggeration in the above observation as many a political prisoner in India has personally witnessed during recent days.⁷ How far, then, this present civilization can be called advanced when practically the same prison-administration prevails after a period of not less than 2000 years?