The Rangoon Jail Riot of 1930 and the Prison Administration of British Burma

Abstract

The paper opens with a description of a riot that occurred in the Rangoon Central Jail in June 1930, and then considers the subsequent enquiries into its causes and into the conduct of the prison staff. It is argued that the administration of the jail was marked by arbitrary corruption and brutality, and that this was due in part to the preponderance of Indian staff. A new Indian superintendent, intent on wiping out corrupt practices, is appointed to the jail, and it is that sharp change in the prison regime that precipitates the riot. The paper then examines the employment of Indians in the prison administration of Burma. It is established that Indians dominated the lower echelons of the penal establishment but that this was not the result of a deliberate policy of ‘divide-and-rule’ on the part of the colonial authorities. Rather it arose from Burma's incorporation into British India in the mid-1880s, and the British concern for administrative efficiency and economy. Finally it is argued that Indian dominance of the prison administration was a primary cause of prison unrest, and a serious impediment to the reformatory influences of the penal institution.