BHUBANESWAR: The Directorate of Prisons and Correctional Services has appointed the medical officer of Choudwar Circle Jail as the nodal officer for managing the Covid-19 situation in prisons across the State.
The nodal officer, Dr SE Rahman will guide officials of all jails in the State to prevent and contain infection among the inmates. Dr Rahman will also guide medical officers and superintendents of the jails about precautions to be taken to contain the spread of Covid-19 and the treatment of infected inmates.
Superintendents of jails have been directed to ensure that inmates and staff wear double masks, maintain social distancing and strictly follow Covid appropriate behaviour.
As all jails in the State do not have medical officers, the superintendents have also been advised to seek assistance from local sub-divisional medical officers, chief district medical officer, sub-collectors and municipal commissioners to test the inmates and provide treatment to those who test positive at Covid care centres.
The superintendents have been directed to shift critical inmates to dedicated Covid hospitals with adequate medical support and police escort.
In a bid to decongest jails amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Directorate of Prisons had recently ordered the release of 449 convicts on 90- day parole. After the move, the number of inmates lodged in 87 prisons of the State has come down to 19,707 as on May 15 against 20,482 on May 1.
The Directorate has also asked the under-trial review committees to consider release of inmates above 60 years of age with comorbidities on interim bail or parole.
In a meeting via video-conferencing on Monday, Director General of Prisons and Director Correctional Services Santosh Kumar Upadhyay discussed various measures with the department’s officials to combat the Covid-19 infection in the jails of the State. So far, 318 inmates have been infected by coronavirus in various jails of the State.