The Cellular
jail, situated on top of the Atlanta Point close
to the Aberdeen Bazaar, is the most famous
historical structure of the present day Port
Blair. The Structure as become an inspirable
part of the freedom moment of the country. The
tortures inflicted by the British on the mind
and the bodies of the inmates of Cellular jail
were so brutal and inhuman that in no time the
place become in famous as the most notorious
structure of the country. The Penal settlement
of Andamans was initially started in Ross
island. Gradually, more jails were constructed
on other islands like Viper island to
accommodate more convicts form mainland India
and Burma. Though the initial convicts were
deserters and mutineers involved in the Sepoy
Mutiny, gradually the prisoners of other anti –
British revolts were also transported to
Andamans. The number of convicts in Port Blair
gradually increased form two hundred in 1858 to
about twelve thousand at the end of the
nineteenth century.
The British administrators from Calcutta used to
visit Port Blair periodically to assess the
health of the convicts and to inspect the state
of the penal settlement. In 1890 Sir Charles
James Loyal, Secretary to the Government of
India, and Dr Alfred Swain Lethbridge, Inspector
General of Prisons in Bengal, came to Andamans,
This two – member committee, commonly known as
Lyall Lethbridge Committee, suggested many
effective changes for the penal settlement at
Andamans. An observation made by them was that
the convicts at least for the first six months,
as was existing in Cannanore Jail in the south
western coast of Indian. The government of India
accepted the suggestion and granted permission
to construct a jail in Port Blair on the lines
of the Cannanore jail......
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