Covid management: Over 16,000 prisoners released in last 4 months in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The state prisons directorate has said total 16,789 inmates were released on bail from all the 85 prisons in the last four months as part of the process to decongest the jails to combat Covid-19 outbreak.
At present, total 96 prisoners have so far been infected by the novel coronavirus in 10 jails in different districts. Jails under the Berhampur circle have the maximum 54 Covid-19 positive inmates. Altogether 17 staff members of four different jails already tested positive for Covid virus.
Official statistics said the capacity of 85 jails in the state is 19,016. At present, the population in the jails is 17,509. “In accordance with the Supreme Court’s order and subsequent decisions by the state high-powered committee, at least 16,639 under trial prisoners and 150 convicts have been released by different courts from March 20 till July 28 this year on the basis of merit. Besides, we shifted 1202 prisoners from some overcrowded jails to the less crowded ones,” director general of police (prisons and correctional services) Santosh Upadhyay said.
Upadhyay said all jails have been asked to strictly follow the Covid protocols. “We have also requested the police to conduct RT-PCR test of arrested accused persons before sending them to the judicial custody,” he said.
On the other hand, the state police headquarters has alerted the commissionerate police and superintendents of police to track the movements of the habitual offenders, who were released on bail. The matter assumed significance as incidents of snatching and robbery went up in Bhubaneswar in the last few days coinciding with the release of the prisoners.
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