Story:
In India there’s a prison where prisoners can come & go as they want. The prisoners can also hold jobs. One prisoner is even a school teacher.
Analysis:
The message in circulation online, also along with a video sometimes (shown in this article), talks about a prison in India where prisoners can come and go as they want, and that they can also hold jobs. The claims are facts, but the prisoners have to abide by certain rules.
Open Prison
The story talks about an open prison in Rajasthan state of India, the kind of prisons that happen to be available in other states of India and few other countries as well. These Open Jails are minimum security prisons with absence of precautions against escape, like walls, bars, locks and armed guards. Criminals coming to open prison are usually punished in the main jail, and most of them are the ones who have committed just one crime in their life. Serious, hardened criminals are not sent to such open prisons. If the inmates cause trouble in open jails, they are sent back to enclosed prisons. During the day, the jail inmates can go out to market/working at their sweet will, but have to come back in the evening. The open prisons are also open to public, i.e., people can visit the prison and the inmates.
Objective
Open prisons have been introduced for several beneficial reasons, to reduce overcrowding in jails, to encourage good behavior in prisoners, make them self-dependent by providing work opportunities and help them mingle into the society again. The jail inmates’ family involvement helps in healing their community’s wounds associated with their crime. In some open prisons, the prisoners are paid wages, usually at market rates, out of which their cost of maintenance is paid to State, making things economically viable. The security costs of maintaining open prisons are also low.
In India & Elsewhere
The concept of open prison is not new, it started in Switzerland in 1891 before being followed by other countries like United States and Netherlands. The first open prison in India started in 1905 in Bombay Presidency, followed by other states. According to 2011 statistics, 14 states in India have functioning Open Jails in their jurisdiction, with Rajasthan reported the highest number of 23 open jails. In Rajasthan open prisons (also called Open Air Camps), the inmates are provided with social and work related activities like agriculture, manufacturing and construction, along with any other trade of the prisoner’s choice that is lawful. The concept of open prison allows convicts to get jobs in the community once they are released and improve their life thereafter.
Hoax or Fact:
Fact with some missing information.
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