Former Penal Colony

This giant 3-storey block of jail cells was one of seven blocks extending like spokes from a central hub. The jail was built in Port Blair around 1910 by the British, who thought the Andamans made a great penal colony. As India’s drive for independence heated up, most of the jail’s prisoners consisted of people arrested for political offences. When Britain was forced to give India indolence in 1947 the Andamans too became Indian, and the jail was turned into a museum filled with photos and exhibitions about the prison life of what are now hailed as Freedom Fighters.