Arthur Road Prison Conditions

mambopoa

My friend is out and back home! Was starting to think he would never get home......

machadinha

Hey! Congrats! I'd say cuddle him and cuddle him (then cuddle him again).

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steven_ber

I'm gonna sound like a liberal now, and I'm not. but....

Give him space and undersanding, and don't expect him to talk about his experiences for a while, he will when he's ready.

I bet he's give anything for a good English breakfast.

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Noodle

Glad to hear that, mambopoa! How long was he in there?

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Nick-H

Good News!

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indira

u are talking abt Sean or?

mambopoa

Yeah, thanks for all the help indira, we are all so grateful! He is doing great! Apart from being a bit calmer and wiser, he the same as before, except he reads tons of books now...

Noodle

mambopoa, since a friend of mine is there as well I would appreciate if your friend would like to describe the conditions in there. If he wants to, of course!

What I heard

"a big room together with about 100-150 other prisoners. no privacy, no locker to keep personal belongings. The people are lying on the naked floor, no blanket, no matress ..."

Is it true?

All the best to your friend!

capt_mahajan

mambopoa, real glad things worked out.

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Noodle

I want to post this here as information and also as a warning ... India's prisons aren't a good place to be! So please everybody stay in the right path and don't do anything stupid ...

I got this by email today from someone who visited my friend in Arthur Road. (I edited out all names and personal info.)

Hi!
On 25/4/07 I was present at H's courtcase, postponed from 13/4/07. It was long and boring. They postponed it to the afternoon, so there was time to do some shopping for him and sit and blabber ouside of the courtroom. He gave me a letter which I will reproduce herewith (see below). In the court was beside judge and clercs also the main witness from the customs, the government procecutor, the lawyer Mr. T and of course the defendent. He was seated in a kind of wooden playpen in the back of the room. What was going on was not easy understandable for uninitiates. They were speaking their professional jargon half English, half Hindi and it was all routine. Plastic bags with content went from hand to hand, everybody needed to verify what was what, the clercs noted everything down and even the luggage tags BOM-FRAN appeared from red lacker sealed envelopes. The procecuter raised his voice and made emotional gestures while stating the horrible crimes H allegedly had committed. H looked lost as a fat baby in his playpen, making thumb down gestures in desperation ... I could imagine his feelings. The fans were droning, it was hot. A couple of times I fell asleep. H kept himself busy writing notes in the big notebook I got for him. Suddenly the official part was over, everybody started to talk loudly and walk around as if to blow of steam after the judicial work. We went outside. H uttered his frustrations to the lawyer Mr T who snarled at him: "There are so many irregularities in this case that I am going to expose each one of them. You wait till after my crossexamination, then you talk to me!"

So here is H's letter:

Dear Loved Ones, Friends and all Fellow Travellers!

Almost one year has passed since my arrest on May 8, 2006. I was caught in possession of 4 kg's of Cannabis Sativa, which is considered illegal. The NOPS Act under which I am accused is mercyless and extremely difficult to fight here in India. I am imprisoned in the Arthur Rd. Jail in Central Bombay, a jail built by the British in 1925! The conditions under which I am kept are difficult to imagine for anybody who has not encountered such a situation. They are absolutely pitiable and inconceivable for any country which has basic human rights ... Anyway there is not much regard for human life in this country ... So far I have managed to survive, thanks to a life of challenging and extensive vagabonding. Always cherishing the gift of life deep down in my heart, listening to the rythms of this beautiful Earth and it's everchanging sounds and colors.... As you all know: mistakes happen and one can make a wrong decision. It happened to me before but this time the impact is so severe that my very life is on the line, uninterrupted, since almost a year! This message is a loud and open call for help and support to all of you. Save My Soul! I find myself in an agonizing state of suffering, here in this ugly and utterly rotten Arthur Rd. jail. The trial has started and it is difficult to say when it will end and how it will proceed. This is India and time is viewed differently from elsewhere. The system is basically hilarious compared to western standards. If convicted I face 10 years in one of their jails, condemned to an ugly and slow internal death!! The truth is that I can't afford to mess around with my life at this moment. The whole situation is painfully serious and deeply frightening. My very roots are in grave danger and I need your help.... Beloveds, it is my need to repeat this again: I am depending on your unwavering and compassionate support otherwise there will be no hope for me. This rotten and insane juicidal system which is rampaging here will crush me - perhaps to death.... Whatever you feel like sharing, contributing, donating, to help me is deeply and gratefully appreciated and recieved. G (another friend) is my Guardian Angel. Without his loving ways of organizing and conducting my support I might have already given in and be swallowed by this hell Arthur Rd. Jail Bombay.
P.s. Starting today I will inform you with updates and insights from the situation here inside the Monster's Belly.....
Hugging all of you - heart to heart! H.

mal ishus

what did the guy expect a butlins holiday camp he payed his money and took the chance tough luck he lost, to late to start crying now he knew he was doing wrong now he's got to pay the price ,crime only pay's if you don't get caught.

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capt_mahajan

Mal, sometimes life isnt all black or all white, unfortunately.

Perhaps we can have both. some compassion for the guy and some abhorrence for the crime... at the same time.

ba9rn

Whilst I agree with the general sense of your post (4Kg can in no way be considered a 'personal use' quantity), I do find the rest of your post offensive. Particularly the last sentence (which I will not quote).

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Noodle

Mal isn't so far off with that last sentence though. There was an article in the TOI a while ago about Arthur Road and it said something like this is the general way of greeting newbies there ...

I for my part think he's punished enough with just being there, I have seen pictures of him and am simply shocked at how he looks after one year inside - he looks 10 years older and he looks ill.

Why should friends abandon him as well? I see no point in it. And that he was stupid he knows himself, no need for us to lecture him.

Without support he won't make it through 10 years. And dying is surely a too harsh punishment for his crime. So, we try to keep his spirits up, support him wherever we can, just so he keeps a small amount of healthiness in him that hopefully will pull him through. He will suffer anyway, no matter what we do.

He hasn't been sentenced yet, maybe he's lucky and gets off with less.

Anyone here who feels compassionate and likes to write to him, contact me with pm.

mal ishus

too true it's a way of life in these place and the soon people realise it the less chance's they will take, look at the back ground of most of these kid's and they come from good privliged family's who have not got a clue about the real world and think it's a big joke to fck the system, rent the old video the midnight express then wake up and smell the coffee there are far too many bleedheart liberals this is the real world

P.S. i know first hand what i am taking about do YOU