It seems that a theme has developed in my travels where I end up visiting an old prison or jail (voluntarily). I've seen some really horrific prisons such as the infamous Khmer Rouge, Toul Sang "reeducation camp" in Phnom Penh and some relatively "quaint" places like the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. This is the old Bangalore jail used by the British to house political prisoners and other rabble rousers, the British almost bankrupted themselves trying to build prisons for everyone. For an Indian, being imprisoned under British Rule was a badge of honor, Ghandi was in one of these several times and for many years. I had to see this place as I am a big proponent of "deviant heroes" in my scholarship and otherwise.
The Indians have turned this prison in to a museum and Freedom Park. They have been holding demonstrations against corruption here quite frequently. Foreigners are advised to avoid such demonstrations so I came on a day when protesters took a day off. I had never seen an old prison quite like this, it was painted, cleaned and aesthetically transformed.
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| Me posing in the admissions hall. |
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| This one was built in a somewhat panoptic form, with a central tower surrounded by cell blocks as spokes around a hub. The design gave some interesting photo perspectives. |
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| Each of these cell blocks housed 100 prisoners, according to inscriptions, all of them were political prisoners. |
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| The main entrance to the old jail and a chance to photo some Indians nonchalantly |
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| Ok CSI wannabes: I had an accident with a catchup bottle (I am a very clumsy person, not a good trait in a land of glass containers and tile floors). Which is blood and which is catchup? This looked worse than it really was, but I did feel like Bruce Willis in a "Die Hard" movie. I've heeled nicely. |
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