317. Details of the procedure to be observed in guarding.
- The following procedure shall be observed in guarding the jail and the prisoners confined therein -(a)The warder guard, shall, after due allowance has been made for leave, sickness, transfer, etc., be divided into two squads as equally as possible which may be called A & B. Squad A will come on duty at 6 A.M. and be relieved by squad B at noon; Squad B will be on duty till 6 P.M., and will be relieved by the night guard which may be composed partly from Squad A and partly from Squad B.(b)The Deputy Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent together with the warders who are to go on duty in the morning, shall enter the jail together.(c)The wards shall be opened and the prisoners counted out by head warders in pairs in the presence of the relieving warders who are to take charge of the prisoners during the first period of day duty. The Deputy Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents or head warder shall verify the number counted out of each ward by comparison with the entry in the lock-up register. A head warder incharge main wall patrolling shall take charge during the first turn of duty and post them round the main walls.(d)On the completion of the parades, the prisoners shall be distributed into their respective gangs, and a responsible officer shall be placed in charge of each gang. The responsibility for the charge of a gang shall never be divided between two or more officers. The strength of a gang working outside the jail walls,-but within the jail precincts shall not, without the sanction of the Inspector-General, exceed 12 prisoners, there shall be atleast one head warder incharge assisted by another warder for every such gang. In the case of prisoners working inside jail walls, each gang may contain as many as can be conveniently and effectively supervised. Prisoners shall not be employed beyond the jail precincts without the special sanction of the Inspector-General in writing.(e)The warders coming on duty at the opening of the wards in the morning shall be relieved at noon by the squad B which shall be brought into the jail by the head warders taking the second turn of day duty. They shall remain incharge until the prisoners are locked up and the night guard posted.(f)When the head warder/warders and convict-officers are posted to the several gangs in the morning, the names of the prisoners composing each gang shall be called from the gang-book in the presence of the officer about to take charge, who shall verify the total by counting them. The officer's name shall then be recorded in the gang-book and his receipt taken. Every long-termed and dangerous prisoner should be specially pointed out to the warder about to take charge of him, so that a particular watch may be kept on him. At every change of guard the number of prisoners in each gang shall be counted, and in the case of gang outside the jail, the names of the prisoners composing each gang shall be called over. In large jails there should be several gang-books, so that the rolls may be called simultaneously to save time. Convict-writers may, when necessary, be employed to assist in writing up the gang-books.(g)On the cessation of work in the evening, the gangs shall be collected and the prisoners in each gang counted and verified.(h)Every head warder/warder incharge of a gang working outside the jail walls shall keep a vigilant eye on the prisoners in his gang and shall not allow them to wander or go out of sight on any pretext whatever. He shall be personally responsible for their safe custody throughout the whole period of his duty. Warders assisting head warder/senior warder in-charge of an outside gang shall similarly be responsible for the safe custody of the gang, but their responsibility shall in no way diminish, or detract from the responsibility of the incharge head warder/senior warder. Prisoners working all day at a distance from the jail should be provided with a temporary latrine in close proximity to the work and under the eye of the warder in charge. A warder incharge of a gang inside the jail shall accompany any of the prisoners of his gang when they go outside the jail, leaving the prisoners remaining inside, in the charge of other warder. Only warders of experience should be placed in-charge of outside gangs.
