The State on Tuesday informed the Bombay High Court that COVID-19 infected inmates at the Arthur Road prison are getting cured due to unceasing efforts of the Prisons Department and medical authorities.
Sunil Ramanand, Additional Director General of Police and Inspector General of Prisons, filed a compliance report stating that swabs of 234 inmates of Arthur Road prison were taken on May 5 and 7 of these, 158 were found positive.
The report was filed in response to the High Court’s direction to the State to file a response to three separate public interest litigations (PILs), including one by People’s Union for Civil Liberties, which sought the court’s intervention to decongest prisons in the State. The PIL also sought information on the health status of convicts and undertrials in the prisons, especially Arthur Road prison, which is the worst affected.
The report said, “On May 20, swabs of 220 inmates, including the 158 who had tested positive, were taken, and of these, only 96 were found positive. On June 5, swabs of 91 of these 96 positive inmates were taken and 60 were found to be positive.”
It said, “It is clear from the aforementioned statistics that COVID -19 infected inmates are getting cured in the Arthur Road Correctional Home due to unceasing efforts of the Prisons Department and medical authorities.”
According to the report, all 2,082 inmates of Arthur Road prison were screened for symptoms (pulse, oxygen, temperature) last week and none was found to be symptomatic.
The report also said, “The Prisons Department does not deem it necessary to obtain and test swabs of all the inmates. The latest protocol issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research for COVID -19 testing, dated May 18, states that all asymptomatic high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested between day five and 10 of coming into contact with the infected person.”
The authorities said family members and relatives of the infected inmates of Arthur Road prison have been duly informed.
Other than this, the government has provided correctional homes across the State with 58 coin boxes and 32 smartphones. It is in the process of procuring additional smartphones to allow inmates communication, including video calls, with their family and lawyers. It also permits female inmates to communicate with their children who are in institutional care.
All correctional homes have made necessary arrangements to receive money orders or electronic transfer of money into the inmate’s account. The bank account number and other requisite details in this regard will soon be on display on the official website of the Prisons Department.
Published - June 10, 2020 12:19 am IST
