The government of Punjab has allowed jail inmates throughout the province to meet their blood relations after a gap of four months.
After cases of Covid-19 were reported in March in some jails, the authorities imposed a ban on visiting the prisoners.
The Inspector General of Punjab Prisons, Shahid Saleem, has issued orders to the jail superintendents to allow meetings with the inmates after ensuring compliance with SOPs to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
According to SOPs, only one blood relative may meet an inmate after 15 days. Temperature of the prisoner as well the relative will be checked before the meeting, using a thermal gun.
A distance of at least six feet will be maintained among the visitor and the prisoner, while a plastic sheet will be erected between them. Only the place in front of the face will be cut in the sheet for their conversation.
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Use of face masks has been declared mandatory for the meetings.
The jail authorities had banned meetings of relatives with inmates among other measures after the first confirmed Covid-19 case of a prisoner in Lahore was reported in March. The inmate was a suspect arrested on drug smuggling charges. He had returned to the country from Italy.
Separate hospital wards and jail barracks were specified for prisoners infected with novel coronavirus.
On the advice of the Health Department of Punjab, the jails and offices were washed with chlorinated water and preventive measures like use of face mask, sanitisation, social distancing and quarantine facilities were also introduced.
The jail authorities had also written to the police to ensure that no inmate released from jail mingles with people and stays home for at least two weeks. The jail authorities since then had been sharing the list of those released from prisons with the police.
Inmates from overcrowded jails were shifted to other prisons. At least 1,250 prisoners were shifted to Hafizabad jail from Lahore to create space for social distancing. During the move, a botched jail break attempt of the prisoners was also reported.
The authorities also conducted survey of places to be used as sub-jails. They identified 40 places that could be transformed into sub-jails for keeping prisoners in quarantine. Four of the identified places were in Lahore. The places had the capacity to host as many as 10,000 prisoners. The survey also included checking of security arrangements by law enforcement agencies. These places had boundary walls, rooms and toilets.
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The superintendents of some prisons, including the District Jail Lahore, had also asked the authorities to not send new inmates because of insufficient health facilities in the prisons.
The health department, after first Covid-19 case surfaced, briefed the jail authorities about the preventive measures like sensitising inmates and staff, cleanliness and disinfection of jails.
The jail authorities had also taken a decision to allow new inmates only after they tested negative for the virus from specified hospitals. The jails in Lahore had asked the police to get prisoners tested from the Munshi, Mayo or Jinnah Hospitals.
e-measures are gradually being rolled back as a result of a shift in the policy of the federal and provincial governments from strict to smart lockdown.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2020.
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