Asia’s largest prison facility, Tihar Central Jail, and Mandoli and Rohini prisons in Delhi have become hotspots for COVID-19 with over 500 inmates and staff members testing positive since last year. Over the past week, the number of cases at these prisons have increased almost five times, as they struggle with overcrowding since most of the 5,000 prisoners, who were released on interim bail or special parole last year due to the pandemic, have since returned.
At the three jails, 190 inmates have tested positive so far, while two have died due to the novel coronavirus. The pandemic has also impacted the jail staff, and so far 304 of them have tested positive while 11 of them are in the active category.
Two prisoners dead
The overcrowded jails, from where a large number of inmates were released last year in the wake of the spread of the COVID-19 cases, is now witnessing another surge. According to the jail authorities, who report directly to the Delhi government, a total of 190 inmates have tested positive so far. While 121 of the inmates have since recovered, 67 remain active. Two other prisoners have since died due to COVID-19.
Similarly, in the case of the jail staff, who not only have to keep the prison system running but also protect themselves from contracting the coronavirus, the pandemic has been unforgiving. Working in the congested environment, as many as 304 jail staff have so far tested positive. Of them, 293 have since recovered while the remaining are active cases.
Jail doctors ill
Among the jail staff who have fallen sick are the jail superintendent of the Mandoli Jail and two in-house doctors of the jail. The situation has reached alarming levels as over the past week, the central jail has witnessed a five-fold increase in COVID-19 cases.
The prison authorities said in all the three jails put together – Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini – while there were 11 positive cases as of April 5, this number shot up to 59 on April 12. This included six jail staff members and one doctor posted at the Tihar prison facility. All those inmates who had come in contact with this doctor have also been quarantined.
Vaccination drive
Regular tests have been ordered of all the inmates over 60 years of age. Their temperature and oxygen saturation levels are being monitored regularly. The jail has also started vaccination of all inmates over 45 years of age, and for this, a vaccination centre has been operationalised at Jail No. 3 in Tihar. Teams from the centre also visiting the inmates at Rohini and Mandoli jails for carrying out the vaccination drive.
Apart from this, as part of precautionary measures, jail authorities – who had restricted the family meeting to once a month last, as against twice a week allowed earlier on September 30 – have cancelled them altogether from April 5.
Returning inmates
Prison authorities are also struggling because while around 5,000 prisoners were released on special parole or interim bail due to COVID-19 last year, around 90% of them returned in February and March this year, once again leading to overcrowding in the prisons. Now, the authorities are again drawing up plans to decongest the prisons.
The COVID-19 cases are also not confined to any particular jail but have spread to all the prisons in the Central Jail complex. Prison authorities said while initially most of the cases were reported from Jail No. 2 at Tihar, they have spread all across. With around 20,000 inmates lodged in these three Delhi prisons, authorities are finding it difficult to deal with the dynamic situation.
