New jail inmates to be in separate barracks for 10 days

All juveniles to observation home to quarantine for 14 days, Karnataka tells Supreme Court

The Karnataka Government has told the Supreme Court that all new prisoners as well as those returning to jails after parole were being kept in separate barracks for 10 days. They were also being subjected to screening for symptoms of cold, cough and fever in order to prevent any chance of spreading coronavirus inside the prisons in Karnataka.

All new juveniles, on the other hand, were being mandatorily screened for COVID-19 before their entry to 17 observation homes in Karnataka. Even if their results were negative, they were being kept in a quarantine facility for 14 days as a precautionary measure, it said.

Taking all precautions, the Government asked the authorities to ensure personal hygiene protocol as necessary soap, hand wash and sanitisers were being made available in prisons, observation homes and one special homes across Karnataka.

In a response to the top court's suo motu matter 'In Re: Contagion of COVID-19 virus in Prisons', the Karnataka Government said isolation wards have been created inside all the prisons to ensure that all the inmates who have cold, cough or fever or any other symptom were kept separately and under medical supervision.

"All interviews of the inmates by visitors, lawyers, NGOs etc. have been temporarily stopped. However, prisoners are allowed to talk to their families and friends through telephone," it said.

Among other steps, the Government said all court appearances of prisoners were being conducted through video conferencing as per direction of the Karnataka High Court. Besides, the prison staff who were on duty were regularly screened for cold, cough and fever and any other symptoms. Those working at the main entrance were given face masks, hand gloves and sanitisers.

"Face masks are being prepared in all central prisons in Karnataka. They are being supplied to district and taluk prisons and being made available to staff and inmates as preventive measures," said an affidavit by Principal Secretary to Home Department, Umesh Kumar.

The top court had, on March 16, issued notice to all states' chief secretaries and jail heads asking them to respond to overcrowding in prisons in view of a high risk of transmission of COVID-19 to prison inmates.

There are 1,339 prisons in India with approximately 4,66,084 inmates.

It had directed that prison specific readiness and response plans must be developed in consultation with medical experts.

In this regard, “Interim guidance on Scaling-up COVID-19 Outbreak in Readiness and Response Operations in camps and camp like settings”, jointly developed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Health Organisation (WHO), published by Inter-Agency Standing Committee of United Nations on 17 March, 2020, may be taken into consideration, it had said.