INDIA BEATS
Halfway home
ANTARA DAS
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Lalgola in West Bengal is an open-air prison where the convicts are given a chance to emerge from the shadows of the past.
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Perhaps, it is this apparent invisibility of the guardians of law and order that ultimately acts as a guarantee of order.
PHOTO: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH
Looking to the future: Ronodhir Basu, an inmate, with his pupils.
ON a mat covering the better part of the floor of a small room, Sonia Niharika and Mousumi Yasmeen, two fifteen-year-old girls, stoop over their notebooks as they try to chart their way through the terrain of high school Physics. Their tutor, Ronodhir Basu, a slender man dressed in impeccable white, explains concepts and helps clarify their doubts. It is a picture of serene, academic pursuit that can happen anywhere. Except the fact that Basu is a prisoner serving a life sentence, convicted of murdering the parents and grandparents of a girl he used to teach, one of the 50 inmates biding their time in the Lalgola Open Air Correctional Home in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
Out of the past
Time past is an overwhelming, looming presence in the precincts of the prison in Lalgola; not just because of the dark, ominous backgrounds of the inmates. The prison, spread over 100 acres, is set amidst the sprawling ruins of what once used to be the palatial residence of Biren Roy, erstwhile king of Lalgola. The property had been handed over on the condition that the colonial architecture would not be dismantled, royal residence making way first for female lunatic convicts and later, the open-air correctional home. The regal lions sculpted in stone look jaded, the fountain has run dry, but life survives, in the calm, languorous movement of the prisoners working on vegetable patches nearby or making chapattis for dinner.
The calm is deceptive, for, within the precincts of this prison without boundaries, the inmates are attempting to emerge from the shadows of the past. The authorities are actively engaged in this project, trying their best to engage the prisoners in meaningful work that will also generate substantial income. For people like Basu, it provides an opportunity to engage with the past, regain the hope and confidence once lost, and make a meaningful contribution as he is, by his own admission, too weak for hard labour.
"The open air prison offers the scope to try out different ways of generating income," says B.D. Sharma, Inspector General of Correctional Services, West Bengal Government. "It is also a way of utilising the human resource, as it is not often that local children in such a remote place near the Indo-Bangladesh border have access to teachers such as Basu," he adds.
Transitional phase
"The prison offers a state of semi-detention, meant to be a transitional phase before the prisoners are released," says Kalyan Pramanik, Superintendent of both the Berhampur Central Correctional Home and the one at Lalgola. It is meant to be a halfway home, he says, with the emphasis on doing away with the societal stigma usually attached to a criminal past.
Feelings of apprehension among the local people have also been gradually assuaged. They have begun accessing the shops set up for the inmates by the West Bengal Prisons Directorate, whether to avail themselves of the ironing facilities offered by Shambhunath Das, or to buy stationery items from Madhab Mitra or to get a motorbike repaired by Ajoy De. The shop owners, most of whom are serving life terms, get to deposit the money they earn in their personal bank accounts.
While the conduct and past behaviour of the inmates are stringently scrutinised by a Committee before they are transferred from other prisons to Lalgola, there always lurks an element of risk associated with allowing unfettered freedom to convicts. Mr. Pramanik admits as much, but is quick to point out that there has only been one escape in the past eight years.
"They have no reason to run away," he says. "We provide them everything — free food and medication, two-week holidays twice a year and the freedom to earn their living," he adds. For aged inmates or those with exceptionally good behaviour, there is also the provision of staying in cottages with their families with the freedom to go out and earn their living as wage labourers.
Perhaps, it is this apparent invisibility of the guardians of law and order that ultimately acts as a guarantee of order. As of now, the authorities in Lalgola are busy working out the details of the permit that one of the inmates requires to drive a van for commercial purposes. Skills are also likely to be enhanced, as inmates conversant in masonry work will be trained to engage in restoring the heritage temples within the premises. The restoration work will be undertaken by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), according to Mr. Sharma.
Possible trajectories
With the evening setting in, the prisoners return to the premises for the night. It is an apt moment perhaps to spare a thought for the families of those who had fallen victims to those crimes of the past. "Unfortunately, there are no laws at present in our country to provide succour to those whose family member was murdered," says Mr. Pramanik. "May be, in future, the inmates might have to share their income with the victims' families," he says. One looks forward to mending of those fences, by those getting accustomed to living without them.
India Beats features stories of the unusual, the exotic and the extraordinary.
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