The Quest for a Bare Minimum: Diet, Exploitation and Nutritional Science in the Prisons of Bengal (1860-1900)

Abstract

Providing a sufficient diet for labouring prisoners became a key concern in Bengal prisons during the latter half of the nineteenth century in order to ensure jail industries’ productivity. Consequently, a number of food experiments were carried out in Bengal jails during this time, intending to determine a bare minimum diet for inmates that was compatible with their health and capabilities. The common method of determining food requirements at the time was to observe the impact of diets on health. Moreover, the advancement of the chemical composition of nutrients and dietetics from the 1840s onwards contributed to defining this minimum standard. Drawing on a wide range of archival materials, this study examines an intricate relationship between health, labour and nutritional science in devising adequate diets in Bengal prisons. This paper argues that colonial administrators’ misconception regarding the food intake of the labouring classes in Bengal, particularly during the famines, resulted in a prison diet that fell short of nutritional standards, in order to prevent individuals from seeking prison as a refuge.