Satisfied with vaccination of nearly 1/3rd prisoners in Maharashtra: Bombay HC

The state prison authorities on Thursday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that nearly a third of the inmates lodged in jails across the state had received the first jab and the number of active Covid cases had come down from the earlier 63 to 21

The state prison authorities on Thursday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that nearly a third of the inmates lodged in jails across the state had received the first jab and the number of active Covid cases had come down from the earlier 63 to 21. The submissions were made by the state in response to the query by the HC in the suo motu public interest litigation (SMPIL) which was initiated based on news reports of the spurt in Covid cases during the second wave. The court then expressed its satisfaction with the progress made in the correctional homes to ward off Covid.

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The court was also informed that around 80,580 tests were conducted on jail staff and inmates and around 2,706 inmates were granted interim bail and 518 emergency parole to decongest jails. The state added that over 13,000 prisoners and 3,641 staff members were vaccinated with atleast the first dose.

The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing the SMPIL, was informed by advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni that the state had complied with various directions of the HC which had brought down the number of Covid-19 positive cases in the 45 jails across the state substantially and the total prison population had also decreased slightly.

The note submitted by the prison authorities shows that out of 1,296 prisoners above the age of 60 years, around 1,177 are vaccinated while 4,119 of the 4,660 inmates between 45-60 years have received a jab. The note further states that of the 27,044 inmates in the age group of 18 to 45 years only 8,039 are vaccinated. In all 13,335 of the around 33,000 inmates are vaccinated which includes 1,539 inmates having comorbidities from the three groups.

Responding to the suggestion of Prof Vijay Raghavan, member of Centre for Criminology and Justice in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, who is assisting the court in the PIL to have lady doctors visit prisons for women, Kumbhakoni submitted that prison authorities had been asked to coordinate with government hospitals and ask them to send lady doctors on rotation and need basis to treat women inmates.

On the suggestion by senior counsel Mihir Desai on having mobile pathological labs to ensure immediate testing of inmates within jail premises and also avoiding the need for police escorts to take inmates to hospitals, Kumbhakoni submitted that the lab facilities to conduct various tests were present in all nine prisons and collection and analysis of samples was done in the prison hospitals itself. The state added that district health agencies were helping the prison department in the collection of samples and reports of samples are communicated to the prison authority.

The state further informed the bench that jail superintendents were instructed on June 22 to check and get all defective machines repaired and to also check the availability of mobile lab facilities by approaching concerned medical officers in the district.

After hearing the submissions the bench noted in its order, “We record satisfaction at the progress made in the correctional homes to ward off Covid. Almost 1/3rd of the prison population has been vaccinated and the number of active cases has reduced considerably and presently stands at 20.”

Seeking further facts and figures of Covid situation at prisons in Maharashtra, HC posted further hearing to July 22.