Document <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <?xml-model href="http://www.tei-c.org/release/xml/tei/custom/schema/relaxng/tei_all.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LEAF-VRE/code_snippets/refs/heads/main/CSS/leaf.css"?> <TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"> <teiHeader> <fileDesc> <titleStmt> <!-- The title, author, and/or editor here should identify the original document that you are encoding. If you don't have information for one of these, or if you have multiple individuals, you can repeat the particular element--> <title>My Experience in Jail III</title> <author>Gandhi</author> </titleStmt> <!-- I'm still trying to figure out the best way to present the project information, but will add that asap --> <publicationStmt> <authority>Karline McLain</authority> <date>2026</date> <availability> <!-- --> <licence/> </availability> </publicationStmt> <sourceDesc> <p>Born digital edition</p> </sourceDesc> </fileDesc> <xenoData><rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:rdfs="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" xmlns:as="http://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#" xmlns:cwrc="http://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc#" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/" xmlns:geo="http://www.geonames.org/ontology#" xmlns:oa="http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#" xmlns:schema="http://schema.org/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" xmlns:fabio="https://purl.org/spar/fabio#" xmlns:bf="http://www.openlinksw.com/schemas/bif#" xmlns:cito="https://sparontologies.github.io/cito/current/cito.html#" xmlns:org="http://www.w3.org/ns/org#"> <rdf:Description rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld/"> <![CDATA[{ "@context": { "dcterms:created": { "@type": "xsd:dateTime", "@id": "dcterms:created" }, "dcterms:issued": { "@type": "xsd:dateTime", "@id": "dcterms:issued" }, "oa:motivatedBy": { "@type": "oa:Motivation" }, "@language": "en", "rdf": "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#", "rdfs": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#", "as": "http://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#", "cwrc": "http://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc#", "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/", "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/", "geo": "http://www.geonames.org/ontology#", "oa": "http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#", "schema": "http://schema.org/", "xsd": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#", "fabio": "https://purl.org/spar/fabio#", "bf": "http://www.openlinksw.com/schemas/bif#", "cito": "https://sparontologies.github.io/cito/current/cito.html#", "org": "http://www.w3.org/ns/org#" }, "id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513161716426", "type": "oa:Annotation", "dcterms:created": "2026-05-13T20:17:16.426Z", "dcterms:creator": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/user/72", "@type": [ "cwrc:NaturalPerson", "schema:Person" ], "cwrc:hasName": "kmclain" }, "oa:motivatedBy": "oa:describing", "oa:hasTarget": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513161716426#Target", "@type": "oa:SpecificResource", "oa:hasSource": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml", "@type": "dctypes:Text", "dc:format": "text/xml" }, "oa:renderedVia": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu", "@type": "as:Application", "rdfs:label": "LEAF-Writer", "schema:softwareVersion": "4.1.0" }, "oa:hasSelector": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513161716426#Selector", "@type": "oa:XPathSelector", "rdf:value": "TEI/text/body/div/head/note" } }, "oa:hasBody": { "@type": "cwrc:NoteScholarly", "dc:format": "text/plain", "rdf:value": "This is the third installment of a four-part essay on Gandhi’s first experience in jail that he published in his weekly newspaper Indian Opinion in 1908. At this time Gandhi was training his coresidents at Phoenix Settlement to prepare to endure time in prison as part of the growing civil disobedience campaign, and he wanted to share some of these lessons with the broader Indian population in South Africa." }, "as:generator": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu", "@type": "as:Application", "rdfs:label": "LEAF-Writer", "schema:url": "https://leaf-writer.lincsproject.ca/", "schema:softwareVersion": "4.1.0" } }]]> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld/"> <![CDATA[{ "@context": { "dcterms:created": { "@type": "xsd:dateTime", "@id": "dcterms:created" }, "dcterms:issued": { "@type": "xsd:dateTime", "@id": "dcterms:issued" }, "oa:motivatedBy": { "@type": "oa:Motivation" }, "@language": "en", "rdf": "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#", "rdfs": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#", "as": "http://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#", "cwrc": "http://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc#", "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/", "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/", "geo": "http://www.geonames.org/ontology#", "oa": "http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#", "schema": "http://schema.org/", "xsd": "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#", "fabio": "https://purl.org/spar/fabio#", "bf": "http://www.openlinksw.com/schemas/bif#", "cito": "https://sparontologies.github.io/cito/current/cito.html#", "org": "http://www.w3.org/ns/org#" }, "id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513161738306", "type": "oa:Annotation", "dcterms:created": "2026-05-13T20:17:38.306Z", "dcterms:creator": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/user/72", "@type": [ "cwrc:NaturalPerson", "schema:Person" ], "cwrc:hasName": "kmclain" }, "oa:motivatedBy": "oa:describing", "oa:hasTarget": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513161738306#Target", "@type": "oa:SpecificResource", "oa:hasSource": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml", "@type": "dctypes:Text", "dc:format": "text/xml" }, "oa:renderedVia": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu", "@type": "as:Application", "rdfs:label": "LEAF-Writer", "schema:softwareVersion": "4.1.0" }, "oa:hasSelector": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513161738306#Selector", "@type": "oa:XPathSelector", "rdf:value": "TEI/text/body/div/div/p[14]/note" } }, "oa:hasBody": { "@type": "cwrc:NoteScholarly", "dc:format": "text/plain", "rdf:value": "Gandhi continued his discussion of his experience in jail in his weekly newspaper. See \"My Experience in Jail IV\" for the next installation." }, "as:generator": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu", "@type": "as:Application", "rdfs:label": "LEAF-Writer", "schema:url": "https://leaf-writer.lincsproject.ca/", "schema:softwareVersion": "4.1.0" } }]]> </rdf:Description> <rdf:Description rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/TR/json-ld/"> <![CDATA[{ "@context": { "dcterms:created": { "@type": "xsd:dateTime", "@id": "dcterms:created" }, "dcterms:issued": { "@type": "xsd:dateTime", "@id": "dcterms:issued" }, "oa:motivatedBy": { "@type": "oa:Motivation" }, "@language": "en", "rdf": "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#", "rdfs": "http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#", "as": "http://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#", "cwrc": "http://sparql.cwrc.ca/ontologies/cwrc#", "dc": "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/", "dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/", "foaf": "http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/", "geo": "http://www.geonames.org/ontology#", "oa": "http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#", "schema": 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"@type": "as:Application", "rdfs:label": "LEAF-Writer", "schema:softwareVersion": "4.1.0" }, "oa:hasSelector": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2026-05/my-experience-in-jail-iii_0_0_0.xml?note_annotation_20260513162941892#Selector", "@type": "oa:XPathSelector", "rdf:value": "TEI/text/body/div/div/p[11]/note" } }, "oa:hasBody": { "@type": "cwrc:NoteScholarly", "dc:format": "text/plain", "rdf:value": "Mr. Playford was a prison magistrate in Johannesburg, South Africa" }, "as:generator": { "@id": "https://leaf.bucknell.edu", "@type": "as:Application", "rdfs:label": "LEAF-Writer", "schema:url": "https://leaf-writer.lincsproject.ca/", "schema:softwareVersion": "4.1.0" } }]]> </rdf:Description> </rdf:RDF></xenoData></teiHeader> <text> <body> <!-- You can give an element an attribute – think of it like an adjective for the element as a noun --> <div type="essay"> <head>My Experience in Jail III<note type="scholarNote">This is the third installment of a four-part essay on Gandhi’s first experience in jail that he published in his weekly newspaper Indian Opinion in 1908. At this time Gandhi was training his coresidents at Phoenix Settlement to prepare to endure time in prison as part of the growing civil disobedience campaign, and he wanted to share some of these lessons with the broader Indian population in South Africa.</note></head> <dateline> <title>Indian Opinion</title> <docDate>March 21, 1908</docDate> </dateline> <div> <head>Diet</head> <p>Diet is a subject which most of us have to think about some time or other in our lives. In particular, prisoners’ food requires the most careful consideration. Their well-being depends a great deal on a good diet. The rule about food in jail is that one must accept what is offered and take nothing from any other source. Soldiers, too, must eat what is given them. But there is a great difference between soldiers and prisoners. Friends may send gifts of food to soldiers, which they may accept. Prisoners, on the other hand, are forbidden to accept gifts of food. Difficulty in regard to food is one important feature of prison life. Even in casual conversation we hear jail authorities saying that there can be no question of preferences in jail. When I met the jail doctor, I asked that bread should be served with tea or ghee. He replied: “You want to indulge your taste. That is not possible in jail.”</p> <p>Let us now consider the regulation against food in jail. Indians get the following items of food during the first week: in the morning, twelve ounces of mealie pap<note type="scholarNote">Mealie pap = a common South African porridge made from white maize</note> without sugar or ghee<note type="scholarNote">Ghee = clarified butter, commonly used in Indian cooking</note>; for the midday meal, four ounces of rice with an ounce of ghee; in the evening, twelve ounces of mealie pap on four days and boiled beans with salt on three days.</p> <p>This scale is drawn up on the basis of what the Kaffir<note type="scholarNote">Kaffir = a pejorative term that was, in Gandhi's time, commonly used to refer to Black South Africans</note> prisoners get, with this difference that the Kaffirs are given pounded maize and fat in the midday meal, instead of which Indians get rice. From the second week onward, along with mealie meal, they get boiled potatoes on two days and vegetables, such as cabbage, pumpkin, on the other two. To those who eat it, meat is also served with vegetables every Sunday from the second week onward.</p> <p>The prisoners who were the first to arrive had decided not to ask for any favors from the Government but to make do with whatever food was allowed them, provided it was acceptable from the religious standpoint. In point of fact, the scale described above was neither adequate for Indians nor suited to them. It may be that dietetically the food was sufficiently nutritious. Mealie meal is the staple of Kaffir diet, so that this scale suits them very well and they thrive on it. But nothing except rice is acceptable to Indians; hardly any of them eat mealie pap. Indians are not used to eating beans as a course in itself and do not find the vegetarian dishes cooked in jail agreeable. The vegetables are not washed, neither are they dressed with spices. Moreover, the vegetables served to the Kaffir prisoners consist mostly of the leftovers and peelings from the vegetables cooked for the whites. Nothing except salt is allowed by way of condiment. Of sugar one may not even dream. Everyone was therefore bothered by the problem of food. Even so, we resolved that as satyagrahis<note type="scholarNote">Satyagrahi = one who practices satyagraha, nonviolent civil disobedience</note> we should not ask for anything from the jail authorities nor seek a favor. So we carried on with the food described above.</p> <p>When the Governor enquired about the amenities, we told him that our food was unsatisfactory, but that we did not wish to ask for a favor from the Government. It was for the Government to consider whether they should make changes. Otherwise, we could make do with whatever the regulations allowed.</p> <p>This attitude could not be kept up for long. When others joined us, we agreed that it would not be proper for us to compel them to accept this inconvenience as we did. That they had come to jail was sacrifice enough. It would be proper, we thought, to demand from the Government special treatment for these people. To that end we broached the subject with the Governor. We told him that, though we accepted whatever was given to us, those who came after us would not be able to do so. The Governor thought the matter over and answered that he could permit cooking to meet any religious scruples, but that the food itself should remain the same. It was not within his power to effect any changes in it.</p> <p>Meanwhile, as mentioned earlier, 14 other Indians joined us. Some of them plainly refused to eat mealie pap. They starved. I went through the jail regulations, and discovered that a petition on this subject could be addressed to the Director of Prisons. We therefore asked for the Governor’s permission to address a petition, and the following petition was forwarded.</p> <p>This petition was signed by 21 of us. After it had been signed and was about to be submitted, we were joined by another 76 Indians, who also disliked mealie pap. We therefore added at the end of the petition that the 76 persons who had come in also felt the same difficulty, and that immediate orders should therefore be issued. I requested the Governor to telegraph the contents of this petition. He consented and, after obtaining the permission of the Director on telephone, ordered mealie pap to be replaced by four ounces of bread for each prisoner. All of us were happy. From the 22nd, therefore, we got four ounces of bread in the morning, as also in the evening, on mealie-pap days. In the evening eight ounces of bread was provided, that is, half a loaf. This arrangement was only provisional, pending further orders. The Governor had meanwhile appointed a committee to go into this question. In the end, it was proposed to allow us flour, ghee, rice and pulses. Nothing further happened and we were released soon after.</p> <p>When, in the beginning, we were only eight, none of us did any cooking. The rice was not well cooked and in their turn, the green vegetables, too, were cooked badly. Therefore, we also obtained permission to cook our own meals. On the first day, Mr. Karwa offered to cook. He was then replaced by Mr. Thambi Naidoo and Mr. Jivan. During the last few days they cooked for 150 persons and had to cook once a day. Two days in the week, however, that is, on the green-vegetable days, they had to go twice a day to cook. Mr. Thambi Naidoo did an admirable job of work, and I looked after the serving.</p> <p>The readers will observe from the foregoing petition that it is drafted so as to present a case not for preferential treatment for ourselves alone, but for a modification of the food scale for all Indian prisoners. It was in the same light that the matter was placed before the Governor, and he concurred. There is still hope that the ration for Indian prisoners in jails will be modified.</p> <p>Moreover, the three Chinese were given something else in place of the rice that we got and were thus the only ones to be refused rice. This caused some heart-burning. It appeared as though the Chinese were being discriminated against as a class inferior to us. I therefore wrote out a petition on their behalf to the Governor and to Mr. Playford<note type="scholarNote">Mr. Playford was a prison magistrate in Johannesburg, South Africa</note>. The order was finally passed that the Chinese should get the same food as the Indians.</p> <p>While on the subject of food, it will be instructive to compare the Indian with the European scale. For breakfast, they get porridge with eight ounces of bread. For dinner, again, bread, together with soup or meat with potatoes or green vegetables, and for supper, bread and porridge. That is, Europeans get bread thrice a day, so that it makes no difference whether or not they get porridge. Moreover, they are served either meat or soup as an additional item every day. Over and above these they are given tea or cocoa every afternoon. It is thus clear that both Kaffirs and Europeans get food suited to their tastes. The poor Indians – nobody bothers about them! They cannot get the food they want. If they are given European diet, the whites will feel insulted. In any case, why should the jail authorities bother to find out the normal Indian fare? There is nothing for it but to let ourselves be classed with the Kaffirs and starve.</p> <p>That this state of affairs has gone on till today points, in my view, to a deficiency in our satyagraha<note type="scholarNote">Satyagraha = nonviolent civil disobedience</note>. Some Indian prisoners get extra food from without surreptitiously. They, therefore, suffer no inconvenience on this account. There are other Indian prisoners who make do with whatever they are given, and afterwards feel ashamed of mentioning their misfortunes or do not care enough for others to take up the issue. People outside remain in the dark about what happens in jail. If we were all devoted to truth and remonstrated whenever there was injustice, we would never have to suffer these inconveniences. If we think more of others than of ourselves, it will be easy to find solutions for these problems.</p> <p>If it is necessary to find remedies for these problems, it is also necessary to bear another consideration in mind. A prisoner must submit to certain hardships. If there were no hardships what would be the point of being imprisoned? Those who can control their minds can find happiness even amidst hardships and enjoy being in jail. Such persons, however, will not forget the hardships of jail life, and, for the sake of others, they ought not to. Moreover, we should give up clinging so tenaciously to our customs and habits. Everyone has heard of the saying, “As the country, so the attire.” Since we live in South Africa we must accustom ourselves to whatever is wholesome in the food of the people here. Mealie pap, like wheat, is good, simple and cheap food. Neither can it be said to be tasteless. In fact, for some purposes, mealie pap is better than wheat. I also believe that, out of regard for the country in which we live, we must accept the food grown in the soil of that country, provided of course it is not unwholesome. Many whites have mealie pap for breakfast every day because they like it. With milk, sugar or ghee, it can be made palatable. Bearing these considerations in mind, and also because there may be many occasions yet for us to go to jail, we should all get used to mealie pap. If we do that, eating mealie pap with only salt will not appear so much of an ordeal. There are some habits of ours which we must not hesitate to give up in the interests of our country. The nations which have progressed are those which have given in on inessential matters. The members of the Salvation Army win over the hearts of the people among whom they work by adopting their customs, dress, etc.<note type="scholarNote">Gandhi continued his discussion of his experience in jail in his weekly newspaper. See "My Experience in Jail IV" for the next installation.</note></p> </div> </div> </body> </text> </TEI>
