Report No. 39

27. Third alternative not suitable.-

The adoption of the third alternative, namely, that of keeping the sentence of imprisonment for life a distinct punishment, would involve the working out of details as to the manner in which the sentence is to be carried out. When convicts were transported overseas to the Andamans; the conditions of their incarceration were totally different from the conditions attaching to rigorous or simple imprisonment undergone in the Indian jails, and were regulated by rules and orders applicable only to the Andamans penal settlement.

In regard to life imprisonment, the questions would naturally arise whether it should be milder or severer than rigorous imprisonment, whether life convicts should be kept in a separate category and, if so, how. We do not think there is anything to be gained by raising, and then attempting to solve, these problems.