Colors of the Cage: A Memoir of an Indian Prison - Softcover

Ferreira, Arun

Softcover

ISBN 10: 194217313X ISBN 13: 9781942173137

Publisher: Common Notions, 2021

Synopsis

“This country needs many more books like this one.”—Arundhati Roy, author of Walking with the Comrades and The God of Small Things

A powerful eyewitness account of life in an Indian prison shows how abolition is necessary to achieve a democratic transformation of society. 

In May 2007, Arun Ferreira, a democratic rights activist, was picked up at a railway station in western India, detained by the court, and condemned to prison for an expanding list of crimes: criminal conspiracy, murder, possession of arms, and rioting, among others added during his detention. 

In one of the most notorious prisons in India, Arun Ferreira was constantly abused and tortured. Over the next several years, each of the ten cases slapped against him fell apart. At long last, Ferreira was acquitted of all charges. As he exited the prison, moments away from freedom, he was rearrested by plainclothes police. He never got to glimpse his family waiting for him just outside the prison gates. 

In stark and riveting detail, Ferreira recounts the horrors he faced in prison—torture, beatings, the general air of hopelessness—and the small consolations that kept hope alive—strikes and solidarity among inmates. His memoir is a timely reminder that across the globe policing and incarceration are institutions in desperate need of being dismantled.

About this title

About the Author

Arun Ferreira is an Indian political activist based in Mumbai. In 2007, he was branded as the leader of the propaganda and communications wing of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). He was acquitted of all charges in 2014 only to be rearrested in 2018 on charges of sedition. He is currently facing a host of charges, including sedition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prior information of officers’ transfers was crucial to predicting our treatment in prison and was often the subject of discussion. Due to archaic prison rules, the subjective whims of prison officials ruled our lives. The power of these officials permeated every aspect of our lives. For instance, only the jailer of the yard could permit an inmate to write more than the single letter per month stipulated in the manual. These discretionary powers made daily life in prison extremely arbitrary. While one jailer would allow a visit to the library, another would ask for the superintendent’s permission to be obtained. While one would allow books and magazines to arrive by post, the other would not. The same went for the superintendent of the prison. While one superintendent encouraged me to pursue academics, his replacement created numerous obstacles. Hence, a reasonable officer on duty was an essential condition for a relatively peaceful incarceration. Transfers of officers would always upset this status quo and force one to get attuned to the desires and tastes of the new man.

The new jailer assigned to our yard in place of Taksande was a young man who was very soon nicknamed Dabangg. Like the Bollywood character he was named after, this officer regularly trotted around the yard with his sleeves rolled up, swinging his baton. This became even more pronounced if a female jail employee or inmate was in sight. Dabangg would, at the slightest opportunity to prop up his macho image, immediately move into action and pounce fiercely on the nearest hapless victim. This would also be with an eye on making a quick buck from those concerned. A mobile phone unearthed, contraband seized, an urgent message to be passed on or cash to be received meant that Dabangg would collect protection money from all those concerned.

If someone needed to be taught a lesson in discipline, Dabangg would not hesitate to unleash his belt. His style of quick action and apparent justice through such dealings made him popular with many inmates, especially the ones who could pay. Each jailer has his own set of cronies, inmates who would do the deals for extracting money from the victim. When a particular jailer ruled, his cronies had a free hand. Officers’ transfers realigned and disturbed these relations too.

Edition details

• Publisher: Common Notions
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 194217313X
• ISBN 13: 9781942173137
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176