The J&K administration has called for "isolation of affected inmates", after 44 prisoners tested positive for coronavirus in a day inside the Anantnag district jail in south Kashmir two days ago.
"Requisite facilities shall be immediately provided to affected prisoners and the staff strictly in adherence to established COVID-19 protocol and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)," an official communique reads.
The Anantnag jail reported the first case on Friday last week and four more cases on Monday. However, the highest spike of 44 cases were reported on Tuesday, official sources said.
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An official said 96 affected prisoners out of 192 at Kashmir's Anantnag District Jail, Mattan, were shifted to a makeshift barrack at the south campus of Kashmir University located in the high ground of Anantnag.
"A medical team shall be made available in the district jail to meet any emergency situation. The authorities shall be directed to immediately sanitise the entire jail premises," the official communication said.
Besides, one jail staffer and one contractor supplying material to the jail have also tested positive for coronavirus. in Anantnag since Friday
Official figures suggest that around 3,628 prisoners are housed in 14 jails of J&K against their overall capacity of 3234, which indicates around 12 percent higher than the jail strength.
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Sources said Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Muhammad Shaban Dar, Muslim League vice-chairman Rafiq Ganai and Jamiat Ahlehadees cleric Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat were among those who tested positive.
Officials, however, have maintained a silence over the outbreak of the infection inside the Valley jails.
"These prisoners, most of whom are in preventive detentions and undertrials, should have been released after the Supreme Court guidelines in the wake of the COVID outbreak," human rights activist Khurram Pervez said.
