Pramesh S Jain
The central prison of Parappana Agrahara on Tuesday vaccinated as many as 2731 inmates who are above 18 year of age.
The prison department had also vaccinated 553 inmates who are 45years and above last month.However the rest of the inmates among the total 4678 inmates are waiting for their turn to get the jab.
Alok Mohan,Director General of Police Prisons and Correctional services who are supervising the vaccination drive,told reporters, that 32 out of 49 prisons across the state do not have a single positive case.
The remaining 17 prisons have few cases,he said, adding that the central prison of Parappana agrahara central prison has 13 positive cases and have been admitted to the prison ward of Epidemic disease hospital in Indiranagar .
He reiterated that the 32 prisons have zero covid cases because of the high standard of hygiene and sanitization maintained with strict guidelines in the premises.
It is mandatory for new admission to get covid RT-PCR test report.Even then the inmates are subjected to tests and will be housed in a quarantine cell for 15 days,Mr.Alok Mohan said, adding that the inmate will again be tested after 15 days and if it is negative he would be allowed to the normal cell.
The prison officials and staff have been strictly directed to use masks,sanitization and face shields while on duty and provided additional supply of soaps and sanitizers and masks to the inmates .
The prison department also since March released as many as 1013 inmates and prisoners on parole and bail following the Supreme Court directions.
Another main reason for containing injection spread is that the prison department stopped physical production and arranging the trial on video conferencing.This not only helps to control the spread of infection but also saves government resources on police escort and vehicles to ferry inmates to courts and back .
Since covid the prison department suspended family meetings and started a new VC facility for the inmates to talk to their families since January this year.As many as 7,000 inmates have availed the facility since then and chatted with the family members on video chats and zoom calls .
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