Solitary confinement
Confinement means restricting a person to move freely and storing them in a small-scale place within the walls. Solitary means single or say existing alone.
The origin of solitary confinement dates back to 1800s in United States it all started as an experiment backed with positive impact mindset.
ORIGIN
In order to experiment this particular punishment prisoners were sent in prison in different cells with a holy bible with a hope or result that the prisoners would change positively and their criminal behaviour would no longer exist they would be a better character themselves but it was an utter failure as considerable number of prisoners fell into semi fatuous conditions many prisoners were in depression , anxiety , stress experiencing a panic attack ,hallucinations , paranomia and violent actions also suicidal tendencies
They suffered a lot of mental problems.
So ,basically it turned out to be the opposite of what was expected out of this experiment it became a way to torture and weaken the prisoner mentally physically and emotionally
In colonial India, Britishers started retaining political prisoners in isolation Of Andaman island without any kind of trial for a considerable period of time. It was punishment of black water or Kalapani.
The revoltees of that time were given Kala Pani punishment and was sent to Andaman Island special cells where they were kept for years or life time till they give up on their life. It was called Kalapani punishment as nothing was visible from the prisoner except black water of the ocean.
So, here solitary confinement can be explained as keeping an inmate or prisoner alone without any socialisation with its co-prisoners in a particular space for a period of time . The prisoner is restricted of any kind of human contact .
In the case of Kishore Singh Dev v. state of Rajasthan , 1980
Supreme court of India further defined solitary confinement as “Confinement in which there is complete isolation of prisoners from other co-prisoners and segregation from outside the world of fellow prisoners “.
People often confuse between solitary confinement and solitary detention , the accused if sentenced guilty is kept in solitary throughout its sentenced period ,while on the contrary , in solitary confinement , prisoner is kept In solitary for a short period of time says some days or weeks.
Protective custody prisoner is kept in solitary but is not any kind of punishment ,it is a kind of safeguard or protection given to the prisoner or inmate from other inmates if it has life risk from other inmates.
Certain restrictions were made regarding solitary confinement it is mentioned under
Section 73 of IPC
It says that court can award the punishment, only to offenders sentenced to rigorous imprisonment and the punishment of solitary confinement can be of maximum period of three months.
Say, if a person has been sentenced rigorous imprisonment for a period of six month then solitary confinement can be given for a maximum period of one month.
Section 74 of IPC speaks about the limitations of solitary confinement it is based on the report of United Nations which suggest a solitary confinement more than 15 days could cause serious mental problems to convicts
So, it laid down certain restrictions that solitary confinement cannot exceed for a period of 14 days at a time. Th intervals has to be not less than the duration of solitary confinement of the prisoner. For example, if a prisoner was in solitary confinement for a period of 14 days then only after a period of 14 days he/she can be put into solitary confinement again if needed.
Section 29 of Prisons Act, 1890 says that if a cell is being used for solitary confinement it must have a facility that the prisoner in case of emergency can contact prison officer .It also says that if a prisoner in solitary confinement is confined in a cell for more than 24 hours a medical officer or subordinate must visit the prisoner and for a regular medical check-up .
A prisoner is already confined in jail so the need of solitary confinement arises when the prisoner breaks some prison rules or commits prison offences due to its unethical behaviour inside the prison during its punishment.
Prison offences in Delhi are defined under section 46, Delhi Prison Act , 2000.
It says that prison offences are those offences that are committed against the prison authority or when there is the fight break down between the two inmates or if they are found with substances or things which are strictly prohibited inside the jail.
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