Port Blair's only firm reminder of its gloomy past, the sturdy brick Cellular Jail or Kala Pani overlooks the sea from a small rise in the northeast of town. Seven wings originally radiated from the central tower out of which only three remain, the rest being destroyed by the Japanese.

Built over a period of eighteen years at the start of the 20th century by the British, its dingy solitary cells were quite different and far worse than the dormitories in other prison blocks erected earlier. The prisoners endured extremely grim conditions in the dirty and ill-ventilated cells where drinking water was limited to two glasses per day and the convicts were expected to wash in the rain as they worked, clearing forests and building prison quarters. Food was stored in vats where the rice and pulses became infested with worms; more than half the prison population died long before their twenty years' detention was up. Frequent executions took place in full view of the cells, at the gallows that still stand in squat wooden shelters in the courtyards.
The sound and light show (in English on Wed, Sat & Sun 7.15pm; in Hindi daily at 6pm; except for the rainy season) outlines the history of the prison, and a small museum by the entrance gate (open at the same hours as the prison) exhibits lists of convicts, photographs and grim torture devices.

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