Provincial Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Social Welfare Raja Basharat has said that on the directions of Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar, measures have been tightened to prevent coronavirus in all the prisons of the province and with screening of prisoners where necessary, PCR test is also being arranged.
He said in a special statement that a transfer plan has been set to shift 3500 prisoners from overcrowded jails to the others enabling maximum social distancing. He said that the total number of prisoners in Punjab at present is 45,535 out of which the number of under-trial prisoners is 25,708 and of them 713 are female prisoners.
The minister said that the newly arriving prisoners were tested and kept in the Quarantine Center for 14 days. He said that the Corona counters have also been set up at the enterance gates besides setting up Corona wards in all the district jails of Punjab.
Whereas all visitors are allowed to enter after strict checking.Raja Bashart said that all medical staff in the jails has been given special training in Corona and has been provided with personal protection kits. He said that as soon as the Corona virus was exposed, prisoners’ meetings and court appearances were immediately banned.
He said that staff on duty in prisons is not allowed to go out of premises. No prisoners are allowed from one barracks to another or any gathering is prohibited. He said prison staff and detainees had also been informed of Corona preventive measures in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines.
