Olympic wrestling medalist Sushil Kumar has demanded a TV set in his jail cell. He is in detention at Tihar Jail on charges of murder and has been allotted a separate cell instead of the jail barracks due to security reasons. He does not have a TV set in this cell. In such a situation, he is finding it difficult to spend time in jail, so he has written a letter to the jail administration requesting them to provide him with the facility of television.
As per the Nelson Mandela Rules 2015, inmates can be allowed to watch TV in prison. The provision for watching TV in jail is also included in the Model Prison Manual 2016 and Delhi Prison Manual 2018. In fact, barracks in prisons around the world usually have a provision to provide TV sets so that inmates can stay connected to the outside world. News, information, education and entertainment have been recognized as the basic needs of inmates but all such facilities of communication depend on the “good conduct” of inmates. Prison manuals generally state that if the conduct of an inmate has not been posing any problem for the prison administration, then he can be provided with such facilities to a limited extent, which include watching TV. But this exemption will be treated as a “facility” and not as a “right”.
Actually, spending free time in jail is a challenge for inmates. The problem is even greater for undertrials as there is no pressure on them to do any work and their stay in the jail is also not clear. In that mindset, they don’t seem to care about anything else other than getting out of the jail. In this kind of a situation, inmates prefer to watch TV instead of doing any work. This is another problem.
Jail is a state subject in India. Therefore, every state has the right to decide what content should be provided to jail inmates, which channels are allowed to be shown and for how many hours TV should be kept on. There is a provision of running TV for 24 hours in some jails, while some jails confine it to limited hours so that inmates do not get addicted to television. But in spite of this, the truth is that there are both sour and sweet experiences around the existence of TV in prison. While Tinka Tinka has been closely monitoring the impact of TV in jail, several findings are crucial to take forward the issue of prison reforms.
An inmate, who had served a 21-year sentence in a jail in Maharashtra, had once shared with me that when he went to the jail, he didn’t have access to TV. For many years, he felt that Sholay was still the most popular film. After a substantial passage of time, when TV was introduced to the barracks, he came to know that the world he had left outside at the time of coming to the jail, has gone far ahead. In such a situation, facilities of newspaper, TV, telephone or even writing or receiving a letter in the jail, keep an inmate updated to a large extent. Due to a ban on visitations in jails in the wake of Covid-19, the interaction of inmates with the outside world has reduced substantially. In the present circumstance, facility of telephone has been improvised. In Uttar Pradesh alone, inmates get to make calls between 5-10 minutes per call, which was only 2 minutes before the pandemic.
Similarly, whether an inmate can be allowed to write letters or get an access to pen and paper, depends entirely on his “good conduct” and is largely decided by the Superintendent alone. Corrupt practices sometimes flourish under the guise of such “good conduct”.
Meanwhile, Sushil Kumar has demanded a TV set. It is up to the jail administration to decide how it reacts to this demand but from the legal perspective, TV should be made available to him so that he can make use of his ‘empty’ time.
But it is surprising that till date some of the state governments have not considered how uninterrupted viewing hours can disrupt the mental and physical health of inmates. A female prisoner in a jail in Uttar Pradesh had once shared in a long conversation with me that watching soap operas for long hours has filled her mind with more negativity. Many petty criminals learn new formulas of committing crimes just by watching TV programs. Although crime shows are prohibited in prisons, many TV serials are weaved on the basic pattern of crime. Makers of such shows have no idea how such unmindful shows have the potential to harm the society. Though they are able to earn TRPs but they also disrupt the process of reformation in jails. Lack of proper control over facilities and absence of proper supervision on the content can defeat the whole purpose of a prison.
In a sense, the very meaning of a jail is to restrict or reduce desired movement and other rights, especially concerning communication needs. This is considered to be a place to go through the prescribed punishment for a crime, but sometimes the jail authorities limit prisons to discipline and the counting of inmates. Jail authorities seldom pay attention to making sure that that the prisoner does not lose his identity and he has the option of improving his skills and that he should get opportunity to learn new ones.
Prison staff automatically develops the habit of judging everyone on the same scale. Before coming to jail, every person has his own abilities which can be given a new face in the time available in jail, but what happens is just the opposite. Instead of converting this free time into an occasion of learning, prisons either make inmates do mundane tasks or engage them in work which has nothing to do with his personality, educational qualification and interest. Outsiders often believe that one who has gone to jail, will come out as a reformed person, notwithstanding the fact that change only comes when an environment of change is created and also the inmate himself is willing to bring a change. Clearly, every prison has several mini prisons in it that go unnoticed. Unless both prison administration and inmates take a vow to improvise the situation, no outside power can do so.
Within the rigid parameters in jail, jail radio can be seen as a worthwhile alternative. The first jail radio in India came in Tihar itself in 2013. Later in 2019, when Tinka Tinka started Jail Radio in District Jail Agra, the country’s oldest prison building, its model was coined keeping in mind the needs and well-being of inmates. This year Tinka Tinka started radio in the jails of Haryana. 7 jails already have 47 inmates as trained radio jockeys. These RJs prepare content for their respective jails, keeping in mind the taste, demands and welfare of inmates. These are original and self-made and inculcate better communication skills in them. Jail radio provides them the platform to bring out their creativity. Such is the power of this self-made content, that gradually inmates have started giving preference to their own jail radio, instead of watching borrowed, ready-made TV programs.
Recently, two songs were released from Central Jail Ambala and District Jail Rohtak and these were deeply appreciated even by the Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan. Armed with a pen, paper and microphone in their hands, they are creating a world of information, knowledge and entertainment for their prisons on a daily basis, something which is pure, more relevant and in the interest of inmates. Life seems beautiful without the race of TRP and profits. This is the reason that jails must initiate the process to give suitable learning and performing platforms to all inmates, including Sushil Kumar. Several experiments can be initiated provided jails are ready to listen and execute them.
( Dr. Vartika Nanda is a prison reformer. She has recently completed a detailed study on the communication needs of inmates with special reference to Uttar Pradesh. She is credited to start prison radios in Haryana. She is the founder of Tinka Tinka, an initiative to bring change in prisons. She is the recipient of Stri Shakti Award by the President of India in 2014.)
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