Nitish Kumar aims to transform jails into reform centres

At a function held at the CM secretariat, Nitish, who has a first-hand experience of life behind the bars, having undergone imprisonment in Ara, Buxar, Gaya and Bhagalpur jails during Emergency period in the seventies, said, "Rich prisoners avail all facilities while there is nobody to look after the poor prisoners. The condition has changed a little but more has to be done."

He also released the English and Hindi versions of Bihar Prison Manual 2012, which came into effect from December 12 last year, replacing the jail manual of 1945.

The CM inaugurated the visitors' complex and visitor management system at Beur model prison. The visitor management system will be computerized, including the storage of photograph, fingerprint and ID proof of each visitor. Nitish also laid the foundation of such visitors' complex in 21 prisons. A canteen for Beur jail inmates was also inaugurated, where the inmates will be able to purchase snacks and other items of daily use. IG (prisons) Anand Kishore announced that such canteens will be opened in all the 56 prisons in three months.

The most important scheme launched by the CM was the introduction of e-prison multipurpose smart cards, a first in the country, and establishment of information kiosks through which the prisoners, by inserting the card can seek details about status of their court cases, date of appearance, remission and wages. This card can be used for purchase of goods from the canteen in cashless transaction and also as a health card. On a pilot basis, this scheme has been launched in Beur prison. The smart card can be recharged by either payment by the inmate's relatives or through wages earned by the prisoners.

I’ll never get tired of advertising cards. If you’ve never held one they are like holding a thin slice of history. They were a RFID tag, a premium, sometimes left on a counter or near the cash register as token of appreciation for patronage.

Why so precious, these cards that were just advertisements? In the mid to late 19th century they were likely as fascinating as the screens on the first smart phones. Whether you felt you wanted one or not, color printing was new and they would have been a true novelty. Being free, unlike smart phones, they became popular and collectible.

The samples in the images gallery came from a Norwalk sale I visited in 2012 and wrote about here. In the last minutes of the sale I purchased of a box of odds and ends, which included these cards.

It is a somewhat random selection of cards, but I was lucky enough to see among them one from Norwich, CT. The Wauregan House Pharmacy run by B.A. Herrick was solid establishment begun in 1893. I managed to find a write up on it in a book titled “The Leading Businessmen of Norwich, CT.” In it a glowing review of Mr. Herrick’s business practices are reported. You can see the whole book online here.   

The most ornate card is the Honest Long Cut Tobacco card featuring the “Modern Ocean Greyhound,” a three-masted steamship. There was likely a collection of numerous ships sold with packages of tobacco.

My favorite card is the one announcing “French Dress Plaiting!” and the offer of “Every plait basted in place.” You’d earn my eternal respect if you knew what this was. It took me several attempts before I surmised that plaits are another name for hair braids. The business’ address on Bleecker Street has a long entry in Wikipedia and has been mentioned in many songs, movies and TV programs and is a famous location for the art and club scene in Manhattan.

As a new assistant professor, I had teaching experience but remember the challenge of translating complex doctoral coursework to a level appropriate for undergraduate students. My goal was to help students enjoy learning and become independent learners and critical thinkers.

Over the years, there have been many changes in the way that we facilitate student learning. Now, there is a strong emphasis on student engagement and involvement and less on the talking head at the front of the room. Teaching methods and support systems have moved from blackboard to white board and back to something called “Blackboard” with a capital B – the teaching platform that provides online support for classes. We have switched from overhead projectors using transparencies to computer projectors and smart boards.

On the research side, I began using the SPSS statistical package when data and programs were entered using punched cards. The cards were fed into a card reader and analysis run on NIU’s mainframe computer – which occupied several rooms. The process was slow and I remember the frustration of waiting for the printed output only to find an error. This meant that I had to re-punch some cards, resubmit the job, and wait in hopes that I had caught all of the errors. Analysis later moved to dumb terminals with the jobs still run on the mainframe. Now, we use PC versions of statistical packages that complete the analysis in a matter of a few seconds on computers in our offices. We can print the output on local printers or store it electronically and convert the results to tables for research reports.