COVID-19: Overcrowded UP Prisons Turn into Virus Hubs, Activists Demand Release of Prisoners

Lucknow: With Uttar Pradesh still struggling to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the state, the highly contagious virus has now reached inside prisons, indicating the poor preventive measures being adopted in jails across the state.

On Friday, July 24, Ballia district jail came to the fore as a virus hub when the Jail Superintendent said that 225 inmates, including three jail wardens and a woman inmate of the district jail, tested positive for COVID-19. This took the tally of inmates who have COVID-19 to 228 in the past two days.

"The investigation process of testing all the inmates and staffers of the district jail for COVID-19 was completed on Friday, and 228 prisoners including three captive guards and a female prisoner have been infected. The infected prisoners have been accommodated in separate barracks in the jail. They are being given medication and food according to the recommendation of the health department," Jail Superintendent Prashant Kumar Maurya told NewsClick. Maurya mentioned that all the prisoners were tested for COVID-19 using rapid antigen kits.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had instructed all the district magistrates to build temporary jails for new inmates, after 12 inmates of the Agra District Jail tested positive for COVID-19 on July 15. He had also instructed jail authorities that inmates and staff members of the jails should be checked for the virus and that cleanliness should be maintained in all the jails with regular sanitisation.

However, when NewsClick spoke to the District Magistrate of Ballia to know whether any temporary jail exists in the district, he said that there was no facility for a temporary jail. “It was only for members of the Tablighi Jamaat but it doesn't exist anymore,” he said.

It should be mentioned that the Ballia District Jail has a capacity of only 350 inmates, but close to 1,050 prisoners are lodged within its premises.

Meanwhile, 120 inmates of the Jhansi District Jail tested positive for COVID-19 on July 23, officials had said. The prison had seen its first case in the last week of April and despite authorities doing their “best” to take preventive measures since, 120 fresh cases came about.

Health experts suspected that the infection spread due to new entrants in the jail, who might have been carrying the virus but were not tested before admission. They said it was jeopardising the health and safety of thousands of vulnerable people.

Before this, several prisoners and jail personnel from different jails tested positive for COVID-19 in Lucknow and Baghpat jail.

Overcrowding in Jails

According to the latest prison occupancy data available on the website of the UP Prisons Administration and Reform Services, jails in the state had a combined capacity of 72,372 inmates. However, by February 2020, there were 1,00,744 inmates in jails across UP.

The data further revealed that at least 63 of the 72 jails across the state are overcrowded, one of them by as much as 498% of its capacity. The state has three special prisons, five central and two sub-jails, and 62 district jails. Of these, only nine are not overcrowded.

“Most of the jails in Uttar Pradesh are overcrowded with double their capacity of prisoners. COVID-19 can only be prevented when authorities begin granting bail on health grounds to elderly and sick prisoners, whether or not they are accused of serious crimes, are undertrials or convicts," said Nutan Thakur, a human rights activist based in Lucknow.

Citing the Uttar Pradesh government order, Thakur said that government had ordered for temporary jails but that nothing had happened on the ground.

“Forget about making temporary jails; due to the overcrowded prisons, the inmates are not following social distancing norms and COVID-19 protocol," she added.

Human rights activists have urged the Uttar Pradesh government to consider releasing more prisoners from the jails in the state in order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award winner and social activist, echoed similar sentiments. Citing the government order, Pandey said that it did not mention the release of elderly or sick prisoners, even though the Union Health Ministry, in its press note on April 4, has said that elderly persons and sick people are more prone to get affected by the virus.

"The government has made the entire society a prison and imprisoned every person at home. They expect us not organise any meeting for social causes or hold protests but they arrested Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde and other activists during the pandemic while the BJP government politicises everything, ranging from the Ram Mandir to toppling a government in Rajasthan. The government should release all the prisoners against whom there is no concrete evidence, and those languishing in jail due to legal support, except hardened criminals," said Pandey adding that Supreme Court has said that people should not be detained unnecessarily but in UP, it is exactly the case.

The state of Uttar Pradesh is setting a new record every single day as far as COVID-19 cases are concerned. As per the state health bulletin, UP had breached the 61,000 case mark as of this evening.