Devikrishna V P, Christ (Deemed to be University), Pune
ABSTRACT
“If people get sick, we take them to the hospital and give them the right medicine to get better. If people’s behaviour is sick, we bring them to the prison, but we forget the medicines.”1 - quotes by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. This is happening in our society. Re-entry into society is hard because many prisoners are not prepared for their release. It is difficult to cope with the challenges of regular life outside of prison due to a lack of social and physical capital. Under article 21 of the Indian Constitution guarantees everyone's right to life and personal liberty as a basic right2. To deal with criminals, the major method was to imprison them. However, confinement behind the four walls of prisons resulted in additional issues such as overcrowding, a lack of health safety precautions, inadequate housing, and a lack of rehabilitation and reformation plans. Prisons have existed in India and overseas as punitive and correctional institutions from the beginning of time. The open prison is one of the criminal justice system's reformative approaches for assisting inmates in becoming law-abiding citizens.
This research also looks at the expanding number of new alternatives to incarceration, such as open prisons, outreach programs, and jail renovation. It focuses on the ways and tactics used by open prisons, community services, and other jail programmes to teach vocational training, skills, meditation, and yoga as a means of rehabilitating offenders.
In conclusion, this paper discusses possible correctional reforms that could be implemented in order to move toward a more humane approach, highlighting the need of treating crime in prisoners rather than isolating and separating them from society.
Keywords: Open prison system, historical background. Article 21.
