The main legal point established in the judgment is the need to correspond between the crime committed and the punishment imposed, while serving public interest and maintaining the human dignity of the prisoner. The judgment also emphasizes the importance of segregation and classification of prisoners, the introduction of work culture in prisons, and the improvement of jail conditions with educational and recreational facilities.

This case was registered on the basis of a petition sent to this Court, by a convict prisoner lodged in the Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail. He remains like many others - a nameless face in the pageant. According to him, the conditions prevailing in the prison where he is detained and in other prisons as well, are sub-human and have a trigger effect on crime and vice. He submits that some convicts enjoy the liberty to do what they like, making others feel indignant and rebellious. They get money through silent conduits in the jail and also Narcotic drugs. Often, the money is sent by criminals trained by them, who have served their term and gone out. Some jail officials connive with the prisoners. The case of one 'S.S.' who in league with two prison officials (since dismissed) committed robberies is pointed out. Another life convict 'M' who associated himself with habitual offenders committed an idol theft while on parole adds petitioner. Some of the habitual offenders sent to the Viyyur Jail find their way back to Trivandrum and other prisons, and their association turns first offenders into hard core criminals, according to petitioner. This will defeat chances of reformation, which is one concern of law. Homosexuality and other forms of physical assaults are rampant in the Prison. Petitioner refers to the names of certain prisoners, who rule the roost. An overlord - vassal system prevails in Prisons, says he. Petitioner prays that remedial measures be taken by this Court, lest institutionalised crime rises higher and higher.

2. The scenario presented reminds one of what Pushkin or what Papillon by Henri Charriere reveals. Life in prison has been described by Jawaharlal Nehru. In Sunil Batra, AIR 1980 SC 1579 : (1980 Cri LJ 1099), life in prison is portrayed.

For years and years, prisoners do not see a child, a woman, or even animals. They lose touch with the outside world. They brood and wrap themselves in angry thoughts of fear and revenge and hatred; forget the good of the world, kindness and joy. Oscar Wilde says :

"Every prison that men build is built with bricks of shame and bound with bars, lest Christ should see, how men, their brothers maim".

On cannot expect the state of life in prison to be the same in the free world. Constraints on freedom are inevitable. Incarceration becomes necessary in social interest. Crimes have to be prevented and criminals punished to maintain the even tenor of life in the community. The basic object of Criminal Law is to suppress criminal enterprise. Society must be protected from transgressions of Law. To achieve this end, there must be correspondence between the crime committed, and the punishment imposed. When the two fail to jibe, scorn and disrespect for Law will be the harvest. As pointed out by the Street field Committee on sentencing, the question to be asked is 'who should be the beneficiary of the criminal justice system - the community or the offender'. Undoubtedly, the society must be the beneficiary or larger beneficiary. In State of Punjab v. Mann Singh, AIR 1983 SC 172 : (1983 Cri LJ 229), Ashrafi Lal v. State, AIR 1987 SC 1721 : (1987 Cri LJ 1885), R. v. Lycett, (1968) 2 All ER 1021, D.P.P. v. Ottewell, (1968) 3 All ER 153, R. v. Storey, (1973) 3 All ER 562, Trop v. Dulles, (1958) 356 US 86, Furman v. Georgia, (1972) 408 US 238, Robert Edward Marshall v. U.S., (1974) 414 US 417 and a catena of cases, the need for imposing penal sanctions in adequate measures was highlighted. Justice to the victim and the community must be assured by the criminal justice system. As pointed out by Lord Scraman (Hamlyn Law Lectures), 'there are contemporary challenges and if the system cannot meet them, they will destroy it'. Criminal Law reveals cross-cultural conflicts. Public interest must be served, while the human dignity of the prisoner is maintained and the rigours of imprisonment are ameliorated.

3. May be, every prisoner looks back at the dawn and views with anguish, the e