Criminals will be tested before being shifted to jail

Gurgaon: To keep jail inmates safe from getting infected by Covid-19, Bhondsi jail officials have decided to get all criminals tested twice after being arrested. The criminals will be kept in mandatory 14-day isolation before being shifted to the jail, after their test results come negative for the second time.
The decision was taken after 33 inmates tested positive for Covid19 last week.
According to officials, the arrested person will first undergo a rapid antigen test after his/her arrest before he/she is produced in court. If the report shows negative, the person will be produced in court and then taken to a special jail in Faridabad. On completion of mandatory isolation at the special jail, the prisoner will be made to undergo another RT-PCR test. If the second report also shows negative he/she will be shifted to Bhondsi jail, one of the biggest prisons of Haryana, with around 2,200 inmates.
Around 33 inmates of Bhondsi jail had tested positive for Covid19 last week. They were shifted to an isolation facility at Government College in Sector 9. According to jail officials, the infection spread had come to light after two prisoners were to be shifted to a jail in Delhi. All inmates in Bhondsi jail were tested and results of 33 inmates, excluding the two sent to Delhi jail, came positive.
DCP (HQ) Nitika Gahlaut said Covid19 protocol was already in place inside the jail. Now, the seniors have made two tests mandatory, including one RT-PCR, for the accused before they are shifted to jail.
A special jail has also been set up in Faridabad to prevent spread of virus among the prisoners in the district jail. The special jail houses criminals arrested in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh, Panipat and Palwal. Around 36 flats, inside the jail premises to host around 216 prisoners, have been prepared to keep new prisoners under isolation till both their test results come negative.
Along with this, efforts are being made to decongest Bhondsi jail. Some of the prisoners, including 61 women inmates, were shifted to Jhajjar jail recently. Around 90% of the people booked in the last four-and-half-months, since the beginning lockdown on March 24, were not arrested or given instant bail by police.