Taking cognisance of the spread of COVID-19 infection in the district jail in Jaipur, where over 100 inmates have tested positive, the Rajasthan High Court on Sunday gave a slew of directions to control the disease in prisons across the State by incorporating new provisions in the standard operating procedure (SOP).
A Division Bench of the High Court took suo motu cognisance of the matter and registered a public interest litigation which it heard at a special sitting held at the residence of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty here. The court said it was concerned over reports that 128 persons, including the convicts, undertrial prisoners and jail officials, had tested COVID-19 positive during the last 48 hours.
The court summoned Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Rajeev Swarup, and Director General (Prisons), N.R.K. Reddy, to the Chief Justice’s residence for explaining the action being taken by the State government. Besides the Chief Justice, the Bench comprised Justice Ashok Kumar Gaur.
Isolation wards
Mr. Swarup informed the court that special isolation wards had been created in all district and central jails, where an accused or prisoner, on his first admission, was required to spend 21 days. Such prisoners are shifted to the general wards of jails only if they are found to have no symptoms of virus infection after completing the isolation period.
In its directions, the court asked the State government to incorporate a requirement in the SOP for mandatory testing of an accused by the local medical authorities for COVID-19. “The accused person should be allowed to be remanded in judicial or police custody only if he/she is found negative.”
As regards the isolation period of 21 days, the court directed the jail authorities to once again present the prisoner before the medical authorities at the end of isolation for check-up to verify if he or she had developed any symptoms of virus infection. The RT-PCR test should be carried out to cover asymptomatic prisoners before being shifted to the general ward, the court said.
“The jail authorities who are in direct contact with the prisoners in isolation also require special attention to ensure that the virus is not transmitted to them or their families,” the court said. It gave directions for conducting tests of jail staff and their family members on a regular and random basis, at least once in every fortnight.
The medical officers in each district will inspect the isolation wards in the jails and give suggestions to the jail authorities to take steps for maintaining cleanliness and sanitisation. Besides, the jail doctors must be made available for general check-up of prisoners in isolation wards everyday, the court said.