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As many as five prisoners in Delhi have died while 249 are in isolation or hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19. Since last year, a total of 319 prisoners and 135 jail staff have got infected with COVID-19
The data has been placed before a High Powered Committee chaired by Justice Vipin Sanghi. The minutes of the meeting held by the committee on May 4 were released on Thursday. Delhi’s Principal Secretary (Home) B. S. Bhalla, DG (Prisons) Sandeep Goyal and Kanwal Jeet Arora, Member Secretary, Delhi State Legal Services Authority are members of the Committee.
During the meeting, Goyal informed the Committee that 63 inmates have been isolated in the jail itself, 67 are lodged in the Central Jail Hospital of Tihar, 37 in Central Jail Hospital of Mandoli, 16 in Burari Hospital, 14 in GTB Hospital, five in LNJP Hospital, four in DDU hospital and one each in AIIMS and MAX Hospital. 41 such inmates have also been released.
Out of 135 prison staff, eight have recovered and 127 were active till May 3. Whenever any jail staff tests positive for coronavirus, they are relieved from their duties and asked to remain home quarantined, Goyal has told the Committee.
More than 85 per cent of the jail staff have been vaccinated since they were declared as ‘Front Line Workers’, the Committee was told during the meeting. As many as 546 jail inmates have also been vaccinated. The Committee has recommended that all the jail inmates and jail staff are required to be vaccinated at the earliest.
The Committee was also told that the jail authorities have procured four oxygen concentration machines and Delhi Health Department has also supplied them 15 such machines.
While the optimum holding capacity of Delhi prisons is 10,026, there are 19,679 inmates in the jails at present. A large number of prisoners were released last year to decongest the jails.
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