Jail unrest exposes deeper rot

kolkata: last week's agitation by prisoners at midnapore jail gave a peek at a widespread rot in the jail administration in west bengal. about 300 inmates — mostly convicts — went on a hunger strike for several days protesting against the death of a fellow-prisoner serving a life sentence. it took prolonged negotiations by senior officials including deputy inspector general (prisons) dipak chowdhury, who camped there, to make them give up, after 10 of them were hospitalised.a fact-finding team of the midnapore branch of the association for protection of democratic rights has revealed that there were bigger issues involved in the episode which must be addressed in order to prevent such situation in future. the prisoners were right, according to apdr, in alleging that the death of the lifer was a result of official negligence. the youth — in his thirties — had a cardiac arrest and complained of chest pain early in the morning. it took nearly three hours for a doctor to attend to him, and all the doctor could do was refer him to the midnapore sadar hospital. locating the ambulance driver and removing him to the hospital took some more time, and eventually, he reached there dead. more than individual callousness, this negligence seemed to have been the result of the system of jail administration. three doctors work part-time on contract as visiting physicians at the jail hospital, and in case of an emergency, there is no way one can get quick help. the first thing we are demanding is a full-time resident doctor in the jail, apdr midnapore branch secretary dipak basu told tnn. but there is another part of the story. the death due to negligence, the findings indicated, provided the immediate pretext for a vested interest group to take it out on the jail superintendent, panchanan biswas. the reason: the superintendent, who had joined only a few months ago, had checked a racket in medicines for the prisoners. from rs 2.5 lakh, the monthly expenses on medicines had come down to about rs 1 lakh. most of the medicines that were requisitioned, according to sources, were of little use to the inmates and somehow found their way to the market outside. curbing this racket had angered a section of the jail staff and their pet convicts. recalling that even the west bengal human rights commission, in its latest report, had deplored corruption in the state's jails, basu said that it was time the authorities woke up to such malpractice in prisons. that, however, requires political will, and there is no guarantee that it will be forthcoming. for, sources say, the situation at midnapore jail was complicated further by a political shadow fighting between two partners of the ruling left front. it could not have gone to that extent had not the jail staff unions controlled by the rsp and the cpm taken sides in the tussle.