Its studies and conclusions extended over the whole field of prison discipline and administration. One of the major findings of this commission is that " the various laws relating to prisons have been passed are incomplete, imperfect and nowhere lay down great leading principles of prison discipline.' The remedy proposed by the conference of 1877 was the enactment of a new prison law, which could secure uniformity of system at least on such basic issues as the reckoning of the terms of sentence.

In 1888, the fourth jail commission was appointed by lord Duffer to inquire into the facts of prison. This commission reviewed the earlier reports (reports of 1836, 1864, and 1877) and made an exhaustive inquiry into all matters connected with jail administration. It was of the opinion that uniformity could not be achieved without enactment of a single Prisons Act". It also recommended the setting up of jail hospitals.

Based on the 1888 Jail Commission's report, a consolidated prison bill was prepared. This bill was later passed. Thus came into being the Prisons Act, 1894 which is the existing law governing the management and administration of prisons in India. This Act, as it is, based on deterrent principles concerned more with prison management than with the treatment of prisoners and gave more consideration to prison offences and punishments than to their effect.

The problems of prison management and administration continued. The Indian Jail Committee 1919-20 made the first comprehensive study of these problems in the present century. This committee report was treated as a turning point of the prison reforms in the country. The committee departed from the vintage theoretical basis of prison administration-(deterrents) and advocated for a new outlook to the prisons. For the first time in the history of prisons, 'reformation' and 'rehabilitation' of offenders were identified as the objectives of prison administration. The committee also recommended the care of criminals should be entrusted to adequately trained staff, rejected the idea of excessive employment of convict officers and recommended the reduction of such excessive employment. The committee condemned the presence of children in jails and recommended the establishment of children's court and the juvenile homes. Under some pretext or other the recommendations of the Indian jail committee 1919-20 were not implemented. Still they serve as a guiding star for prison reforms in India.

Government of India Act 1919 left the subject of prisons to the consideration and judgments of the provincial Governments without any effective control and supervision of the Central Government. As an obvious result, the provincial Government accorded low priority to the prison reforms. However, the period from 1937 to 1947 was important in the history of Indian prisons because it aroused public consciousness and general awareness for prison reforms at least in some progressive states (Mysore, UP, Bombay etc.). The freedom movement also added momentum to this awareness. The constitution of India, which came into force in 1950, retained the position of Government of India Act, 1935, in the matter of prisons and kept prisons as a State subject by including it in List II- State List of the Seventh Schedule'" During the early 1950's a number of jail reform committees were appointed by various state governments with the aim of achieving the goal of humanization in prisons and to put the treatment of offenders on a scientific footing.