COVID-19-free health certificates have been made mandatory for new prisoners to be brought to the jails in the State during the pandemic period.
Every new prisoner will now be screened for the disease. The jail authorities had recently updated the health check-list for prisoners considering the new global health situations.
Every prisoner, who is brought in by the law enforcement agencies, will be subjected to a medical examination. The list of medical examination was drawn up by the National Human Rights Commission five years ago. The additional health screening for the viral disease has been made mandatory considering the pandemic situation, said S. Santhosh, DIG Prisons (Head Quarters).
Law enforcement agencies such as Excise and Forest Departments have also been asked to screen the offenders they book for various offences for SARS-CoV-2 before sending them to prison.
Screening facilities
The Jail Department has approached the State Health authorities for setting up screening facilities for the prisoners in all the districts. Facilities for housing these prisoners during the quarantine period or the time till their test results are available will have to be arranged.
Such a measure has to be adopted for insulating other inmates of the jails from the disease. The support of the Revenue Department and the State Disaster Management Authority has been sought in this regard, he said.
The department has set up quarantine facilities in nine prisons across the State for the 1,818 prisoners, who were earlier released on interim bail as part of the efforts to decongest the jails. These prisoners are expected to return to the respective prisons by the first week of June.
All the prisoners will be put under the institutional quarantine facility as prescribed by the Health authorities before sending them to the jails. They will also be screened for COVID-19.
Test negative
Meanwhile, four prisoners from Kottarakkara, Vythiri, Kasaragod, and Kannur, who had developed symptoms of flu were, tested negative. The prisoners were screened for the disease after they complained of discomfort and showed signs of flu, the jail official said.
Kerala has 6,298 prisoners in various jails against the sanctioned capacity of 7,213 persons.