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Jharkhand High Court: District Legal Service Authority to review Covid-19 prevention measures in jails
As covid-19 is becomes the most important topic in this year, there are lots of effect we can see all around us. As Jharkhand prisons reported few Covid-19 cases, a high-powered committee on June 27, 2020 reviewed the measures taken up to prevent the spread of the disease among prisoners.
The bench of Jharkhand High Court comprise of Chief Justice H C Mishra through video conference due to covid-19.
According to sources, the committee has ordered that the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) members should visit jails and review anti – Covid-19 arrangements in prisons.
Inspector General Sashi Ranjan said, “We are alert to the situation and preventive steps are being taken. All accused persons sent on remand to jails are first put under quarantine. Testing of new inmates for Covid-19 has been made compulsory.”
He said the jail administration is planning to shift inmates from overcrowded jails to the new jail at Sakchi, which has a capacity to house 300 persons, and Barhi, with space for 325 prisoners The Sakchi jail has started functioning while Barhi jail is scheduled to open soon.
Ranjan said a large number of inmates were shifted from the overcrowded jails to the prisons with relatively lesser inmates recently. Stating that earlier some jails were packed at 200% of their capacity, he added the occupancy in almost all jails is around 115% at present.
Sources said 100 PPEs have been provided in every jail in the state and masks and sanitizers have also been distributed in large numbers.
The team of DLSA is expected to come up with proposals for improvement of safety measures. One of them is to keep the number of inmates in jails well within the maximum capacity. Covid-19 cases have been detected in several jails, including Sahebganj and Khunti districts.
The committee, formed on the direction of Supreme Court to prevent spread of Covid-19 in jails, has passed a series of instructions to the administration in its successive meetings. An instruction has also been passed to sensitize the inmates about social distancing and use of masks, soaps and sanitizers.
