Jails parole inmates to protect health
As the Covid-19 outbreak spreads across India, many jails in the country have decided to release prisoners, either on parole or interim bail, in order to contain the infection. Health professionals have welcomed the move as an essential step to prevent community transmission through overcrowded prisons.
The Maharashtra government has decided to release about 11,000 prisoners, whose sentence period is less than seven years, on parole. The announcement was made by state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh this week. There are some 60 prisons in the state, where this decision will be implemented.
Delhi’s Tihar jail also has decided to release around 3,000 inmates. Of these, 1,500 convicts will be released on parole and other 1,500 undertrials on interim bail.the UP government, too, has decided to start the process to free about 10,000 jail inmates.
This follows the Supreme Court’s order this week asking all states and Union Territories to set up high-level committees which could consider releasing all convicts who have been jailed up to seven years on parole to decongest jails in an attempt to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. A Bench, led by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, suggested that undertrials awaiting trials for entailing maximum sentence of seven years also be extended a similar benefit. The order said the undertrial review committee must meet every week.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, prison reformer Vartika Nanda said ,“This is a crisis situation and therefore, the decision to decongest the jails is a welcome move. But we will have to ensure that the loopholes, which are there in the present system, are plugged once the crisis is over.
Looking at the possible threat of transmission, the Supreme Court Bench suggested maximum possible distancing among the prisoners, including the undertrials. It also suggested creation of isolation wards, quarantine of new prisoners, preliminary examination of prisoners, availability of medical assistance, scanning of staff and other service providers at entry points, sanitisation and cleanliness of prison campus, supply of masks, barring or limiting or personal visits for prisoners and suspension of group activities.
Some states like Delhi andkeralahave already set up isolation wards within their prison premises. The Arthur Road jail in Mumbai, which has 3,700 inmates against the capacity of less than 1,000, has set up 20 isolation cells for those with Covid -19 symptoms.