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Maharashtra prison authority sets up ‘two-tier protection’ to curb virus spread in jails
Amid the second wave, the prison authority, in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in state jails, has started building a ‘two-tier protection’ system
Amid the second wave, the prison authority, in a bid to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in state jails, has started building a ‘two-tier protection’ system. Along with temporary prisons (quarantine centres), that were set up last year across the state, this year the authority is also making arrangements for Covid care centres with the help of the local administration.
Additional director general (prisons) Sunil Ramanand has directed all jail superintendents across the state to approach the respective district collectors and make arrangements for Covid care centres. So far, the prison authority has set up 21 quarantine centres and seven Covid care centres.
“If a new prisoner is to be lodged in a jail, they will have to mandatorily undergo Covid testing and spend 14 days at a quarantine centre, irrespective of their test results. The prisoner will be admitted to a regular jail only if they show no symptoms after 14 days.
If a prisoner shows any symptoms during their stay at the centre, then would be shifted to a Covid care centre for treatment. If their condition deteriorates, they would be hospitalised.
“By this way, the confirmed cases and suspected ones will be separated. The two-layered protection will keep an effective check on the entry of infected prisoners in the jails, thereby preventing the further spread of the infectious disease in jails,” said a senior prison officer, adding that this will also prevent the entry of prisoners with false negative cases in the jail.
Since last April, the prison authorities have conducted 65,340 Covid-19 tests across 44 prisons and jail administrative offices in the state. A total of 3,444 prisoners have tested positive for Covid-19, of which nine have succumbed to the infectious disease. Currently, there are 274 active cases in state jails.
The maximum active Covid-19 prisoners have been registered in the Kolhapur and Kalyan prisons at 43 each, followed by Thane (25) and Mumbai’s Arthur Road Central prison (23), a jail officer said.
Last year, 36 temporary prisons (quarantine centres) were set up across the state.
The temporary prisons (mostly educational institutes which were shut due to lockdown) were discontinued last year as the Covid-19 cases went down. In view of the recent surge in cases this year, these temporary prisons are now being reopened, senior prison officials said.
Prison officials believe that the principal reason for spread of the virus in jails is overcrowding, and in this backdrop, every district prison authority has been asked to work in close coordination with the respective under-trial review committees, which are headed by sessions judges, to enable the regular review of the decongestion of prisons, the senior prison officer said.
Since March 25 last year, 10,803 prisoners have been released to reduce overcrowding in the prisons. However, some of the jails continue to be highly overcrowded, as the state prisons have accommodated 34,224 prisoners against the capacity of around 24,000.
Maharashtra’s prisons have also seen a considerable number of cases among its staff. So far, 4,103 tests have been conducted on state’s prison staff. Of the 822 staffers who were detected positive for Covid-19, nine lost their lives. At present, there are 122 active Covid-19 cases among state’s prison staff. Of the total 3,818 staff in prisons across state, 3,207 have received the vaccine.
Indrani Mukerjea tests negative
Indrani Mukerjea, an accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, who was earlier tested positive along with 38 other inmates at the Byculla women’s jail last month, has now tested negative for Covid-19. Fifteen other prisoners have also been tested negative. They would now be shifted back to the prison from the temporary set-up.
