Rajasthan: Proposed hospital in open jail restricts idea of restorative justice, say activists

Jaipur: As the Rajasthan government approves a plan to build a satellite hospital in the Open Air Jail camp in Sanganer, an outcry over the "calculative attack on the very idea of restorative justice" is gaining ground with some organisations challenging it in the court.

Set up in 1963, Sanganer Open Jail is amongst the world’s oldest and largest jails. It pioneers penal reform by offering minimal security and enables inmates to work, earn and sustain family ties. The jail was started with 11 inmates as an experiment in a reformative system of punishment. The idea is that open institutions foster freedom, responsibility and aid in socialisation, easing inmates’ reintegration into society, consistent with the principles of Article 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution.

The Sampurnanand Khula Bandi Shivir is spread over 3.04 hectares and has low boundary walls. As of August 31, 2024, the total number of inmates is 393 and several are out on parole.

The Jaipur Development Authority has allotted 2.2 hectares out of the total 3.04 hectares to the Medical and Health department for a satellite hospital. Thus, the open jail premises have now been reduced to 0.84 hectares with more than two-thirds land being snatched away, claim prison reform activists. In a meeting on July 22, 2024, the JDA Land and Property Disposal Committee approved the free allotment, that is 2.2 hectares of land inside the premises of open jail for construction of a 300-bedded satellite hospital facility since the area lacks hospital and medical facilities. With a stipulation that the state government’s approval must be obtained, the state government in turn has conditionally approved the allotment in line with the 2015 Land Allotment policy.

Those opposing the move say that this would not only take away houses of inmates which they built themselves, but also school, anganwadi, the quarters, office hall and other physical resources. Prisoners here are daily wage earners and labourers and go out to work. The only mandatory rule is that they return to the jail and be present at their attendance calls morning and evening.

According to the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), the land which the open air camp (Jail) has in its possession for the last six decades, was taken away easily, because of the larger perception that prisoners do not need so much space. They also claim that since inmates would not raise their voices against the government as they would not wish to lose their freedom of being in an open camp and being with their families, the government went ahead with approval without a thought about the inmates’ rehabilitative progress.

According to a report on open prisons in Rajasthan in April 2017 prepared by NGO Prison Aid and Action Research (PAARr), nearly 80 per cent of the offences are committed in the heat of the moment and closed prisons would turn those convicted into hardened criminals. "Closed prisons lead to depression among the inmates as they are socially cut-off from society. Moreover, open prisons are more cost effective and about 70 per cent cheaper. For example the cost per prisoner in Jaipur Central Jail is Rs 7,094 per month whereas at the Sanganer Open Prison the cost per prisoner is only Rs 500 per month."

Amicus Curiae Prateek Kasliwal has filed a Civil Miscellaneous Application with the Rajasthan High Court at Jaipur bench arguing that this move jeopardises the integrity and operation effectiveness of the open prison. Kasliwal told DH the petition also says that the Supreme Court has consistently endorsed open prisons for their rehabilitative advantages forbidding any reduction in their allocated land. The petition says the proposed plans to diminish the Sanganer Open Prisons land for hospital extension directly defy these judicial mandates, endangering inmates’ rights and the effectiveness of their rehabilitation.

Kavita Srivastava, president, PUCL says : “The move is clearly an attack on the idea of restorative justice. The idea was to provide a community space for the open jail inmates. It is not merely about some house structures, which will be demolished. The jail is also open to outsiders, for instance children from the neighbouring colonies come to play here in the open space and naturally help to integrate the children of the prisoners and the prisoners themselves with the outside children and adults.”

She says : “The principle of reformative justice fundamentally challenges the outdated model of punitive confinement characterised by rigid bars and harsh conditions. It routes a transformative approach, embodied by the concept of open prisons, where the focus shifts to fostering trust and minimising security measures.”

In the present times, out of total 5,73,220 prisoners, 4,34,302 are under-trial prisoners, when already the prisons are overcrowded to the extent of 131.4 per cent (NCRB, 2022). Rajasthan has 51 open jails, the highest in the country.

The petition says that the purpose of open prison institutions is that the prisoners do not relapse into crimes after their release into society. "These institutions also inculcate a sense of self-discipline and social responsibility while simultaneously easing the burden of overcrowded prisons across the globe."

The Supreme Court in the matter of Suhas Chakma vs Union of India 2020, Justice B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta on May 17, 2024 had clearly stated that no attempt should be made to reduce the area of open prisons when the proposal to reduce the area at Sanganer Open Jail in Jaipur was brought to their notice.

However, the land allocated rightfully belongs to the government, admits Kasliwal.

JDA’s contention is that since the allocated land is earmarked for recreational facilities in the land’s master plan, and it is an additional vacant space other than the space allocated for open jail, it is in no way violating or contradicting Supreme Court orders. Earlier, the land was allocated for the refugees after the Partition. After the refugees left, the vacant land naturally got integrated with the open jail premises.

In the last hearing on July 23, 2024, Rajasthan advocate general Rajendra Prasad Gupta had orally submitted to the high court that the state government would not touch the land occupied by the Sanganer Open Jail for the purpose of expanding the satellite hospital and he had sought eight weeks time to submit the status report in the case. The next hearing is scheduled for September 25.

Kasliwal said the petitioners are hoping to get a stay.