Prisons and jails could be epicenters of Covid-19

Team Udayavani, Apr 6, 2020, 2:16 PM IST

As the world is struggling to fight Covid-19, a new challenge has come forward. As prisons are a perfect vector for this virus, many have raised an issue of criminals kept in Indian prison.

Jails and prisons are full of people who are at higher risk than the general public. There are many who are also suffering from serious illness

Tihar Jail, the country’s largest prison, released around 3,000 inmates who are not hardened criminals on parole or interim bail.

But as we all know many other prisons in India are packed and there are prisoners who are at high risk. Indian prisons have 17% more prisoners than their full capacity. It is now matter of grave concern as social distancing is the only key to prevent the spread, but it is hard to follow social distancing in prisons.

Also, the debate around granting bails to prisoners involves a contrast of between those who say this is the smarter way to reduce risk and those who worry about letting the wrong people walk the streets.

There are chances that there will be panic among people of the nation as many of the prisoners are now out on bail and in such a situation, government needs to assure people that dangerous people are not being released, and the public needs to see that people who can be safely released are not being held behind bars during a pandemic.