FOUR INMATES IN STATE’S JAILS DIE OF COVID-19 IN A FORTNIGHT

MUMBAI: Four prisoners have died of Covid-19 in state prisons in the past two weeks. The casualties occurred in Mumbai’s Arthur Road central jail, Byculla’s women’s prison, Taloja prison and Nagpur prison. Active cases of Covid-19 among prisoners have also slightly increased in last two weeks.

According to prison officials, till April 30, a total of nine Covid-19 deaths were reported across the jails in Maharashtra. The death toll has jumped to 13 till May 14.

Currently, there are 411 active cases in state jails, which includes 317 prisoners and 94 prison staffs. The maximum active cases have been reported in Kolhapur jail at 83 and Thane prison at 66, a jail officer said.

Seeing surge in cases of infection in Covid-19 second wave, the prison authority had decided to carry out random testings in jails. As a result of this drive, last month a major outbreak of Covid was detected in Byculla’s women prison where nearly 40 prisoners, including Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani Mukerjea, tested Covid-19 positive. Most of them have recovered now.

Since last April, prison authorities have conducted 69,818 Covid-19 tests across 47 prisons and jail administrative offices in the state. A total of 3,757 prisoners tested positive for Covid-19, of which 13 have succumbed to the disease. A total of 3,427 infected inmates have recovered fully.

To minimise the impact of the infectious disease in jails, the prison authority last month has started building two-tier protection system. Along with temporary prisons that were set up last year across the state, this year arrangements are also made for Covid care centres with the help of local administrations. If a new prisoner is to be lodged in a jail, they will have to mandatorily undergo Covid test and spend 14 days at a quarantine centre (temporary prison), irrespective of their test results.

If a prisoner shows any symptoms during their stay at the centre, they will be shifted to a Covid care centre for treatment. If their condition deteriorates, they will be hospitalised. This way, confirmed cases and suspected ones will be separated. This system will keep an effective check on the entry of infected prisoners in jails, said a prison officer.

Since March 2020, around 10,900 inmates have been released to reduce overcrowding in prisons. Approximately 34,000 inmates are lodged against a capacity of 24,000 in prisons of Maharashtra.