COVID-19: Remand prisoners to be in only if they test negative

Thiruvananthapuram, May 17 (): In a bid to preventspread of COVID-19 in prisons in Kerala, the state governmentwill admit remand prisoners only if they test negative forthe virus, while it has already granted remission and paroleto several other inmates.

The swabs of remand prisoners will be taken and testedfor the deadly virus and till the results arrive, they will beeither lodged at hospitals or quarantine facilities arrangedby the district administration, a senior prison official said. "In the fourth phase of lockdown,we have decided that onlyCOVID-19-free prisoners will be admitted to all jails in thestate.

If someone is arrested, his swab test will be done andascertained whether they are positive or negative. Otherwise,the 6,250 prisoners and over 1,600 staff in all the jails willbe in trouble.

This is the most important phase," DIG of Prisons andCorrectional Services, Santhosh Kumar, told .

Currently 6,250 prisoners are lodged in around 54 jailsacross the state, he said.

Kumar said the plan was to decongest the jails and hencethose eligible had been given parole and interim bail.

At least 85 prisoners who have undergone two third oftheir term have been given remission, he said, adding thesesteps were taken to reduce the number of inmates in prisons.

He said the decongestion plan was facing a majorchallenge as over 1,200 accused in Abkari cases have beenjailed during the lockdown periond.

"As part of reducing the population in jails in view ofthe COVID-19 situation, we have been giving bail and parole tomany.

But since liquor shops are closed due to the lockdown,there is a spike in number of Abkari cases and over 1,200 havebeen arrested and lodged in jails," he said.

The prison department has been proactively participatingin fighting the pandemic by producing sanitisers and masks andhas been playing a major role in controlling the market price. "We have already produced eight lakh masks and over 15,000litres of sanitisers. We did sales of over Rs 1.25 croreduring this lockdown period.

We have played a major role in controlling the marketprice of sanitisers and masks," Kumar claimed.

With 11new positivecases detected in Kerala onSaturday, the total tally of those under treatment has risento 87 in the state and over 55,000 are under observation. RRT APRRAVINDRANATH APRRAVINDRANATH