Prison officials have written letters to the judiciary and the home department requesting them to issue directions to the police department to get accused tested for COVID-19 before sending them to prison.
The letter, written by chief superintendent of Central prison Sheshumurthy V., is addressed to the city civil and sessions court and the director general and inspector general of police.
The issue cropped up after the recent attack on healthcare workers in Padarayanapura and subsequent arrests. Some of the accused, who were shifted to Ramanagara prison, had COVID-19 symptoms. They were shunted from one place to another after prison officials found out about the symptoms.
The Central prison at Parappana Agrahara, which has over 5,000 inmates, is already overcrowded. Though officials have taken adequate measures to prevent spread of the pandemic inside the prison, they said getting inmates for judicial custody without a test will endanger the health of other inmates and staff. This is why getting the required test before admission is necessary, Mr. Sheshumurthy has said in his letter.
The prison department has also suggested that the police keep the accused in a quarantine facility in case a test result is positive and should bring the person concerned to the prison only after recovery.
