VIJAYAWADA: In a cause for concern as many as 824 prisoners and 178 jail staff have tested positive for Covid-19 across prisons in Andhra Pradesh.
According to the state prisons department, four of their staff members and one murder convict succumbed to the disease.
Mohammed Ahsan Reza, director-general of prisons and correctional services, told TOI that most of the jail inmates, who were infected, happen to be ‘remand prisoners.’ “On a daily basis, around 200 to 300 remand prisoners come and go, and we do keep them separately, away from the convicts. However, despite screening the disease does spread as it has its own incubation period of 14 or 15 days,” Reza told TOI.
The Rajahmundry central prison stands out as the most affected with 257 positive cases reported in the last three months. The Nellore central prison has 70 positive cases and Visakhapatnam central prison stands third with 20.
Out of the four staff members, who succumbed to the virus, three were head warders at Rajahmundry, Tadipatri and Nellore prison. Apart from that, a tailoring instructor too passed away.
“The head warder in Tadipatri Prison had undergone open heart surgery days before he contracted the virus,” an official said. The Nellore warder was a heart patient, who was about to retire in August, and the Rajahmundry one had an alcohol issue,” Reza said.