Volume II Special Issue VIII November 2022

Name of Author : Biplav Kumar Gautam

Title of the paper : Dignity Cascade: Tracing Dehumanisation in select Indian Prison Narratives

Abstract: India has indeed travelled a long road from the ancient era to the modern era in terms of reforming the penal institutions. But, has India achieved the objectives of imprisonment or all the recommendations made by the various committees are merely on a piece of paper? Are prisoners a part of corrective measures or coercive measures? These are some very basic questions that Prison Narrative as a genre deals with. Prison Narrative refers to the experiences of incarcerated individuals who suffer physical, sexual, and mental abuse inside the prison. The idea behind establishing the prison is to reform and rehabilitate the criminals. As Thomas More pointed out, the subject of punishment ought to be nothing else but the destruction of vices and saving the men. Mohanty and Hazary 4 But, this primary objective of the penal institution is meant to survive only on a piece of paper as in the last 20 years, 1,888 custodial deaths have been reported across India. 1,888 Custodial Deaths in India over Last 20 Years but Only 26 Cops Convicted Official Data - India News. Moreover, the sorry state of the affair is that only 26 police personnel have been convicted of custodial death in the same period. This shows the abuse of power that is running rampant in the name of the justice system. These Concerns about the dehumanizing experiences of the prisoners have laid the objective of the paper to analyse and assess the ontological status of the prisoners with a special reference to The Colour of the cage by Arun Ferriera and The Bad Boys of Bokaro Jail by Chetan Mahajan.

Keywords : Dignity Cascade, Indian Prison Narratives, Tracing Dehumanisation

DOI :

Page Number : 33-38