Pune: The cases of active COVID-19 in the jails of Maharashtra are increasing. These have increased from zero to 246 on December 31. According to officials, most of these cases are among newly admitted convicts or undertrials and have been isolated in temporary jails or COVID care centers for prisoners.
Yerwada Jail (84), Mumbai Jail (35), Kalyan District Jail (44), Byculla Jail (15) and Thane Central Jail (13) are some of the jails with high number of active COVID-19 cases. The COVID-19 tests of jail staff have also started coming back positive. His active case count was zero on December 31, which has now risen to 46.
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The new prisoners were initially placed in temporary prisons.
According to data shared by the Pune-headquartered state prison administration, 45 jails in the state, including the high-security central jail, district jail and open jail, had 37,658 inmates as of Tuesday. Officials said that all new entrants (prisoners) are subjected to COVID-19 testing as per protocol. They have now also started testing high-risk prisoners in jails amid the third wave. The prison administration has built 41 temporary jails during the pandemic. As per the prescribed protocol, all the new entrants are initially kept in these temporary jails and those who have been found to be symptomatic and who are COVID positive have been isolated in these temporary jails.
Testing in prisons increased
All active cases in jails are currently housed in temporary jails or COVID care centers for prisoners. An official of the prison department said that as a precautionary measure, the testing of prisoners inside the jails has also been intensified.
Many decisions were taken to make crowd work in jails
In addition to setting up temporary prisons, the Maharashtra Prisons Department has also taken steps to reduce overcrowding through emergency bail and parole, immunization of prison inmates and staff, testing of all incoming inmates and the entire prison population, including those in the high risk age group. Several measures have been taken like isolating the prisoners. Installation of 124 smartphones and 73 coin boxes for non-contact communication with family and lawyers as well as regular check-ups by local body officials have also been arranged.