Born Behind Bars

For Kabir (like countless others), India’s caste system and prison system are both disastrous institutions that he must navigate around—not through—to find true justice for himself and his mother, Amma. The prison system, which is allegedly meant to bring justice to society, does just the opposite in Born Behind Bars, because of a combination of incomplete policies, incompetent employees, and class-based prejudice. Although class-based prejudice exists everywhere, it’s particularly intense where Kabir lives because, as the novel notes, low-caste people are much more often unfairly imprisoned as a result of prejudice against them. Furthermore, they often can’t afford bail, lawyers, or trials, resulting in cases like Amma’s, in which she’s held and essentially serves time for a crime she didn’t commit simply because she couldn’t pay for a chance to defend herself and prove her innocence in court.

Although policies dictate maximum sentence lengths, the maximum age of child inmates, and more, enforcement of these policies is poor, which the novel also illustrates. First, the warden doesn’t notice that Kabir is three years past the age when he should have left the prison; this shows gross negligence and incompetence on the part of the prison officials. Next, the new warden also proves incompetent when he fails to ensure that the man who claims to be Kabir’s uncle is really his uncle (he’s not; he’s a stranger who endeavors to sell Kabir into human trafficking). Additionally, both the new and old wardens fail to notice (or perhaps to care) that Amma has served more than the maximum sentence she would have received even if she were guilty of theft. All of these massive incompetencies illustrate the depth of problems with the prison system, which doesn’t run as it legally should.

In many countries, issues like poverty, profitable crime opportunities, and prejudice lead to far more prevalent imprisonment of working-class people than wealthy people. However, where Kabir lives, the depth of prejudice, as well as the apparent lack of enough public defenders, exacerbates this problem. After Kabir’s release from prison, he struggles to find anyone to help him because most people ignore him, calling him “untouchable” (a derogatory term for people of the lowest, or Dalit, caste). Luckily, Kabir escapes the clutches of Fake Uncle, who tried to sell him into human trafficking, and survived by finding a good friend (Rani) and eventually his grandparents. Additionally, Kabir faces a massive challenge in trying to find a lawyer to free his unjustly imprisoned mother. Rani sums up the problems that result from the caste and prison systems when she says, “Such a strange world we live in […]. They lock up nice mothers. But guys who buy and sell kids get to roam free” (84). This illustrates the effects of prejudice and bureaucratic incompetence. The biggest obstacle Kabir faces is just getting someone to listen to him: As soon as other lawyers hear that he’s low caste or that his mother’s in prison, they hang up, illustrating how much of an obstacle caste is in a system with this much prejudice. Once Kabir finally finds someone (Tanvi Ma’am via Viji Aunty) to help, the case is extremely straightforward: Tanji Ma’am easily arranges for the release of Amma and others.

The issue of children in prisons sheds further light on the drawbacks of both systems. The law in India allows children to stay with their incarcerated mothers until age six, if other family members who aren’t incarcerated are unavailable to care for them. Because of the disproportionate imprisonment of low-caste people, many children who end up living in the prisons are low caste. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle wherein the lower caste endures even greater burdens. Being raised in prison creates additional obstacles for Kabir, because people judge him not only for his birth caste and his religious affiliation but also for his upbringing in prison, even though this upbringing itself resulted from caste-based prejudice. In the prison, the food he receives in prison isn’t enough, and the schooling isn’t up to par with what he would have received outside prison. Although being with their mothers for their first six years is arguably better for these children than being placed in an orphanage, they’re still treated as inmates. Furthermore, being suddenly ripped from their mothers at age six (or whenever the wardens act to release them, which for Kabir occurs at age nine) is traumatic, confusing, and damaging. If trustworthy family members aren’t available, the fate of these children upon their “release” from prison may be an orphanage, which Amma notes was awful when she grew up there, or placement with a person involved in human trafficking, which almost happens to Kabir. The novel depicts bad individuals but no single villain. Rather, the villains are the institutions of the caste system and the prison system, which affect people throughout the society in various ways. As Kabir remarks, “What a strange world. The chatty cook I met […] was kind enough to go out of her way to help me, but the policemen who’d worked in the jail where I’d lived all my life hadn’t bothered to check if they were sending me to the right person” (191). Luckily, Kabir finds people in the world who want to help him (even if they’re not always the people in charge), signaling the importance of family and friendship.