4 more jail guards, an inmate test Covid-19 positive

Coronavirus infections are on the rise in prisons as four more jail guards and one inmate tested positive in last 24 hours in the country.

The jail guards tested positive while discharging duty at Narayanganj district jail and the inmate tested positive in Khulna district jail, Md Monzur Hossain, assistant inspector general (admin) at the Department of Prisons headquarters, told the Daily Star today.

With the new cases, the total number of infections in prisons is now 51. Of them, 50 are jail staff and one an inmate, said Monzur, adding that around 10 jail guards and two inmates have recovered till today.

Besides, 73 other prison guards and officials and 203 inmates remain in quarantine in different prisons across the country as they either showed Covid-19 like symptoms or came in contact with those infected, said the AIG.

In prison, the first Covid-19 case was detected on April 21, when a guard at Dhaka Central Jail tested positive and the number gradually rose after it.

The prisons department earlier arranged isolation units for inmates inside jails in Kishoreganj, Madaripur, Pirojpur, Sylhet, Feni and Dinajpur districts, according to a report of the home ministry's special coordination cell.

The jail authorities say they keep new inmates in 14-day quarantine before putting them inside the cell with others.

According to jail officials, they have also taken some more initiatives like providing training to jail staff with the help of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to fight against the virus and they have stopped allowing inmates to meet with their relatives in jail.

Another high official of the Department of Prisons, requesting anonymity, said they are letting the inmates talk with their relatives on cell phones.

"Every inmate will get the chance to talk to their families once every 15 days," the official told The Daily Star today.

Considering the situation, the inmates will not get the chance to meet their relatives during Eid-ul-Fitr, scheduled to be celebrated on May 25 (depending on moon sighting), said AIG Monzur Hossain.

"We have arranged some cell phones so that every inmate can talk to their relatives gradually over the phone on the occasion of Eid," he added.