Jail authorities lift ban on family visits

After over 900 virus cases emerged at Karachi Central Jail, only 50 inmates are still infected

KARACHI:

The Sindh Prisons Department decided on Sunday to remove the ban on prisoners' families visiting them in jail. The ban, which was put in place around three months ago in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, will be lifted with effect from today (Monday).

After over 900 inmates at Karachi Central Jail alone tested positive for the virus after the first case there emerged on May 11, the number of cases in Sindh's prisons have dropped as the infected prisoners recovered. Only 50 inmates still affected by the virus remain in the quarantine facility at the Central Jail.

When the virus made its presence known in Sindh, prison authorities had voiced fears of a catastrophic outbreak in the jails, pointing out that the overcrowding and confined quarters meant that a single infected prisoner could rapidly infected hundreds of other inmates.

As a result, former Prisons IG Nusrat Hussain Mangan instituted several precautionary measures, including restricting prisoners' families from visiting them, installing disinfectant gates and additional wash basins, providing sanitary products to inmates and ensuring thorough cleaning of the jail premises. Furthermore, prisoners were transferred to less-populated jails, while those testing positive for the virus were isolated.

The same measures were continued by the new Prisons IG, Qazi Nazeer Ahmed, with cases in the Central Jail dropping to around 50 while no cases have reportedly emerged at the Malir district jail so far.

According to sources, the restriction is being removed after considering the improvement of the pandemic situation in the jails. They added that strict standard operating procedures would be in place during prison visits, in line with which only prisoners from the same barrack would meet relatives on the same day to avoid crowding.

Furthermore, it will be mandatory for the inmates to wear masks during the meeting, wash hands before and after and use sanitiser frequently, while the visiting family members will be asked to wear masks and gloves as well as pass through disinfectant gates.

The sources added that relatives above the age of 60 would not be permitted to meet the prisoners, while social distancing would be practiced during the visits, with a distance of at least six feet between the inmates and their visitors.