Maha prison authority sets up ‘two-tier protection’ to curb virus spread in jails

MUMBAI: 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, 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. The two-layered protection will keep an effective check on the entry of infected prisoners in jails, thereby preventing further spread of the infectious disease in jails,” said a senior prison officer, adding that this would also prevent the entry of prisoners with false negative reports.

Since last April, authorities have conducted 65,340 Covid-19 tests across 44 prisons and jail administrative offices in the state. A total of 3,444 prisoners tested positive for Covid-19, of which nine have succumbed to the disease. Currently, there are 274 active cases in state jails. The maximum active cases have been registered in 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 were set up across the state. The temporary prisons (mostly educational institutes which were shut due to lockdown) were discontinued last year as Covid-19 cases went down. In view of the recent surge in cases this year, these temporary prisons are now being reopened, senior prison officers said.

Prison officers believe that the main reason for the spread of the virus in jails is overcrowding. In this backdrop, every district prison authority has been asked to work in close coordination with the respective undertrial review committees, headed by sessions judges, to enable regular review of decongestion of prisons, the senior officer said.

SINCE MARCH 2020, 10.8K INMATES HAVE BEEN RELEASED TO REDUCE OVERCROWDING. 34K INMATES ARE LODGED AGAINST CAPACITY OF 24K