The Alipore Jail or Alipore Central Jail, is a prison in Alipore, Kolkata, where political prisoners were kept under British rule, among them Subhas Chandra Bose. It also housed the Alipore Jail Press. It is no longer in operation as a jail, having been shut down on February 20, 2019. The jail site is being developed as an Independence museum in the name of the martyrs who were imprisoned and executed there.

After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the Battle of Buxar in 1764, and the transfer of Diwani rights to the English East India Company in 1765, the British realized the importance of creating penitentiaries and gaols to administer law, order and criminal justice. Right from the Ambassador’s House Gaol, in Lal Bazar, dating from 1733, the Harinbari House of Correction in 1787 testify to the inclusion of imprisonment among their penal methods. These jails, however, were never under the jurisdiction of the Local Government, and were not distinctively known as “Company’s” Jails. The Harinbari Jail, for instance, was under the jurisdiction of the kotwal. It was only after 1790 that the Company decided to implement imprisonment with hard labour and the need to allocate funds for the construction of proper central jails. The first jail to be institutionalized under the British was the Dacca House of Correction (1790), followed by the Midnapore Jail (1792), to be followed by other jails in Bengal. The Old Alipore Gaol or the Presidency Jail,as it came to be called later, was constructed gradually from 1810 onwards, but was made a central jail much later in 1864.

This Presidency Jail which was formerly known as the Harin Bari Jail stood in the present day Victoria Memorial grounds, not far from present day Lal Bazar. Commonly referred as ‘Old Alipore Jail’, Presidency Correctional Home got the status of first Central Prison in Bengal in the year 1864. Made of barrack-style buildings arranged around a central courtyard, the Presidency Jail (Old Alipore Jail) was built incrementally over a period of time rather than to any predetermined design.

The Old Alipore Jail was shifted over time in the early twentieth century for the purpose of better administration to the other side of the Adi Ganga or the Tolly’s Nullah and the newer Alipore Jail came up in 1906. Unlike the older Presidency jail, this relatively newer jail, at Alipore, was largely constructed to a unified design complete with a central tower, radiating cell blocks, separate quarters for Europeans and Indians, and areas apportioned for prisoners of various categories

In the words of the Bengal Gazetteer of 1914, the new jail was a ‘ modern up-to-date prison with modern improvements ‘. In 1913 the new jail took over the functions of the old Alipore Jail, which was then renamed as the Presidency Jail, and the new jail began its tenure as the Central Prison, including the incarceration of freedom fighters and later the Naxals who constitute an important part of modern Indian history. Gradually from a penitentiary, to a place of struggle against the brutalities of the British, the Alipore Central Jail had evolved into a place of reform and redemption in the age of liberal and democratic thought in postcolonial India. With the transfer of the inmates to Baruipur Central Correctional Home.

The Alipore Central Correctional Home is a national historic landmark located in the heart of Kolkata. This 116 year old building, along with the Presidency Jail, is on the Grade I list of heritage sites of Kolkata. Constructed in 1906, and spread over 15.2 acres, this colonial era institution abuts Tolly’s Nullah and can be identified easily with its characteristic brick-red walls. Within the premises one can spot the Alipore Jail Press Building, the central watchtower, over a dozen buildings which served as prison cells and wards, and the Alipore Jail Hospital building. Notable freedom fighters who were incarcerated here include Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Chittaranjan Das, Dinesh Gupta, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy to name a few. It served as a correctional home till 2019 when the inmates were shifted to Baruipur, on the outskirts of Kolkata. From being a silent witness to the brutalities inflicted on the freedom fighters of the country, the Alipore Central Correctional Home is now transformed as a memorial and museum to honour the sacrifice of those who fought for the independence of India.

The existing Alipore jail campus adopted a world-class Independence museum, On display are India’s freedom struggle during the British period, paintings, photographs, maps of India during the various periods of History, installations, and statues of the freedom fighters, letters and other documents and artifacts related to the freedom struggle.

Gallows area: This place has been decorated with the names of great freedom fighters, who were hanged in the Alipore Central Correctional Home.

There is a souvenir room, INA theme cafe’, exhibits of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, exhibits related to Rishi Aurobindo, Dinesh Gupta, Women Martyrs of Bengal and the history of 18th & 19th Century starting from Battle of Plassey in Bengal (1757) upto the freedom movement of 1947 in the 1st floor of the building.

A light and sound show depicting the lives and struggle of various us freedom fighters is on show. There is a cafeteria and is still expanding its scope.