Thiruvananthapuram: Covid spread has been reported in various jails in Kerala with officers among those infected.
At least 402 prisoners were found to be infected with Covid in the tests conducted at the end of last month; while 245 were found to be infected in the test held last week. Mass testing was held again at the Thiruvananthapuram central prison recently. The results are yet to be received.
Apart from the prison inmates, 46 prison officers have also been infected. The Covid cases have been reported even though 1,214 prisoners were released from jail on parole and interim bail.
Over 4,000 prisoners are currently lodged at the jails in the state. The jails usually have over 8,000 prisoners, including undertrial prisoners. But 857 prison inmates were released on a 90-day parole earlier this month. Also, 357 undertrial prisoners were released on interim bail but they have not been set a date of return. The Supreme Court has also stated that unnecessary arrests should not be made during the pandemic, and thus the number of new prisoners have also reduced.
Last month, 402 Covid-infected prisoners were deemed to have recovered after their quarantine period. None of them had symptoms and continued to be in jails. But after 1,357 were tested now, Covid was confirmed in 245. Even among them, none had the symptoms.
Authorities said if the testing was ramped up, the number of patients would also rise. The Covid patients are put up at a special block in the jails.
There are 1,850 personnel in prisons. After 132 were tested in two phases, the infection was confirmed in 46. This includes the Idukki district jail superintendent. All of them had taken two doses of the vaccine. None of them had any symptoms.
But the authorities fear that the prisons’ functioning would be affected if testing was ramped up. Already the officers are being given one week of duty at once. They are also being denied off and leave. Other than security, prisoners are made to do bulk of the tasks at the jails.
The infection was confirmed in only two after 1,031 were tested in Thiruvananthapuram last month. Now, seven have been diagnosed with Covid after 90 were tested. This is why it was decided to conduct mass testing. The situation is serious in Ernakulam and Neyyattinkara prisons as well. Though there were 142 Covid patients in Kannur last month, there are no Covid cases now. At Viyyur, the number of Covid patients has reduced from 46 to 27.
The three women prisons in the state also have over 100 prisoners. Four prisoners have been diagnosed with Covid in the tests held at Viyyur, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram women prisons.