Give back the schools, Collector to Prison dept

The District Collector of Mumbai and Thane has written to the prison authorities to vacate the school allotted for quarantine centres or temporary jail for inmates after the Maharashtra government ordered schools to reopen on October 4.

The letter from the district collector had requested the prison authorities to hand over the schools. In reply, the prison authorities asked the district officials and the school department to extend the permission till December.

The letter was sent to Arthur Road Jail, Byculla District jail (men and women), Thane Central Jail, Aadharwadi Jail in Kalyan and Taloja Central Jail in Navi Mumbai. FPJ has the copy of the October 4 letter issued by Sadanand Jadhav, Deputy District Collector, Mumbai, to the Superintendent of Arthur Road Jail and Byculla District Jail. The letter states the Maharashtra government had ordered the school to reopen by October 4 for 8 to 12 standards and asked the prison officials to attend a meeting at the district collector office on October 5.

N.B. Vayachal, Superintendent of Mumbai Central Jail, who attended the meeting, confirmed the letter received. "We inform the authorities that the threat of Covid-19 still emerges. We request the authorities that they should extend the handing over time till December. As the prison department had no other option or place to keep the Covid positive inmates or those newcomers found with such symptoms," he said.

In September, around 45 women inmates from Byculla women prison were tested positive and were kept in Byculla school quarantine centre. "Any new inmate is sent after an RT-PCR test and kept at the quarantine centre or temporary jail for safety. After 14 days, they are shifted to jail after a test. At present, the municipal school has 124 inmates from Arthur road jail and few others from Byculla jail," said an official from the prison department.

Similarly, the school alloted in Kalwa for Thane Central Jail inmates and one in Kalyan for inmates of Aadharwadi Jail had 200 inmates each. "In such cases shifting these inmates to jail is a risk. Firstly, if the prison authorities had space, they would not have requested a temporary quarantine centre. The school is safe as it has rooms and security. If a quarantine centre is arranged at an open space, it has a high risk of inmates running away," said an official from the prison department. The prison department had also requested to allot a covid-centre nearby jail. The temporary prison was a part to decongest as the prison is still facing overcrowding. Sources from the Aadharwadi jail said, "They are waiting for the security to shift and vacate inmates from the quarantine centre. They will vacate mostly by Monday," added the official.