Cellular Prison visit

As mentioned, this had a profound effect on me.

Because the islands are so far from the rest of India it became a natural place to house dissidents or political prisoners.

The other terms use includes, freedom fighters (if you are on that side) Terrorists (if you are not!) or political prisoners in today’s PC world.

Think Alcatraz, Guantanamo, Devils Island, Robbins Island, or anywhere that is relevant to your knowledge.

There is no doubt that I will screw up the detail, but suffice it to say that the original prison design was circular and it only afforded the prisoner a view (and there were over 600) of the back of the next cell block, thus reducing any chance for communication by hand signal shouting or any other means. There was one prisoner per cell and a total of over 600 cells in the original design. Remember these were all political prisoners who were fighting for India’s independence from what my guide referred to as “The Britishers”.

Cells were approx 7 ½ feet wide by 131/2 feet long and 10 feet tall. There was a small barred window and a barred front gate.

Other than the isolation, (no talking allowed) the conditions were not incredibly bad, but the brutal treatment of many of the prisoners and the overall harsh conditions drove several of the inmates insane. There were statues outside the prison of six inmates who had died during hunger strikes or more frequently as a result of force-feeding.

There is a place where prisoners were forced to mill and extract palm oil. 50 liters a day, and everyone knew it was impossible and an excuse to repremand and indeed torture prisoners. If they could not keep up they were dragged around. I attempted to photo the description. I hope it is readable. It is difficult to imagine that people do this to each other, but they did and the 

Japanese did it on thye Burma railroad (Bridge over the river Kwai) not far east of here.

We saw the gallows and there were three stations so three people could be hanged at the same time. The ropes shown were new, but the beam and the trap door were original. It is now enclosed but was open so other prisoners could see the hangings. I am not sure if they were forced to watch or not, but would not be surprised if they were.

 

 

The stark contrast is when you look out over the peaceful tropical landscape just outside the prison and realize the brutality and horror of what was happening inside. My thoughts kept coming back to Pappilon, the movie with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen on Devils Island in French Guiana.

Certainly part of my frustration and why it had such an impact on me was the futility of it all and the belief that this sort of brutality and repression would yield the results that the authorities sought. The net result, as it is in so many other places, is that if you repress the masses and subjugate them they will eventually get mad enough about it and have an uprising. There has to be a better way but I bet Mugabe and the Generals in Burma are not reading my blog> Oh well enough ranting for now