Prison Woes: Inmate Tests Positive For Covid-19 At Mumbai Women’s Jail

Mumbai: Covid-19 cases continue to grow in Maharashtra, India’s hotspot. If the news of positive coronavirus cases being detected in Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia, alarmed the country a few weeks ago, the latest shocker is the first case of an intimate getting infected at Byculla women’s jail in Mumbai.

It has been reported that a 54-year-old woman has tested positive for the virus which has brought the world to a standstill.

Last week, another prison in Mumbai — popularly known as the Arthur Road jail – saw 77 inmates and 26 staffers testing positive for Covid-19.

According to Byculla jail officials, as the inmate’s oxygen saturation level fell below 90 per cent, she was referred to JJ Hospital last week. She tested negative on Friday, but another test on Saturday revealed she was positive.

She has been admitted to St George Hospital.

Byculla women’s jail is the lone women-only prison in Maharashtra’s capital city and houses high-profile inmates like Sheena Bora murder-accused Indrani Mukerjea.

The Supreme Court had asked states in March to decongest jails as “our prisons are overcrowded, making it difficult for he prisoners to maintain social distancing”.

Maharashtra had announced that 11,000 prisoners will be released to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in overcrowded jails, but less than 6000 have been released till date.

Odisha, it may be recalled, transferred 989 prisoners to less-crowded jails last month.

Also read: Odisha Jails Transfer 989 Prisoners To Follow Social Distancing Norms