The British administration used Cuttack Jail to confine lunatics in the second half of the 19th century, said Delhi University historian Biswamoy Pati, who was delivering a lecture to the students of department of history at Ravenshaw University on Wednesday.

The Cuttack Jail, according to Pati, was used "as an asylum for lunatics not for their treatment but to imprison them and make life secure for those outside". "The asylum was a testimony to criminalisation of insanity by the colonial administration," he said.

His presentation entitled "The Cuttack Asylum 1860-1900" was a micro-study that explored the lunatic asylum at Cuttack Jail drawing upon a wide range of archival sources.

The British-era Cuttack Jail became ready for occupation in February 1811. Official reports indicate that by January 1859 "lunatics" had become one category of prisoners at the jail in addition to "labouring", "non-labouring", "hajut" and "state prisoners".

Pati said most of the prisoners in the category of lunatics belonged to the labouring class and lowest classes.

"The social stigma attached to insanity perhaps was responsible for keeping those higher up in the social hierarchy out of the asylum," he said.

Focusing on the living conditions of the mad inmates at the jail, Pati said: "They were kept in chains".

Ward No. 15 (see picture) of the jail still stands and it used to house cells where freedom fighters were kept.

Text by Lalmohan PatnaikTelegraph picture