Following the directive of the Supreme Court to decongest prisons in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, jail authorities at Nagaon in central Assam has released 93 inmates comprising 53 from Central Jail and 40 from Special Jail, on personal release bond.
Nagaon Central Jail has capacity of 424 inmates and Special Jail has capacity of 372 inmates.
At present there are 380 inmates in Central Jail and 251 in Special Jail.
In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, the jail authorities has also taken proper measures like providing mask, hand santizer to inmates and every prisoner is asked to maintain social distancing.
Isolation wards have been formed where any new inmates are kept, separate from the earlir inmates.
On the other hand, in a bid to create awareness about coronavirus, the District Legal Service Authority of Hojai conducted a video conferencing with the jail inmates of Nagaon Central Jail and Special Jail on Tuesday.
Along with DLSA secretary Pronita Morang, senior doctor Aditya Langthasa interacted with inmates.
Dr Langthasa made the prisoners aware about the safety precautions to be adopted to safeguard from COVID-19.
He talked about importance of washing hands, wearing mask, social distancing and hygiene.
The inmates were also benefitted regarding their health related queries.
Talking to the correspondent over phone on Wednesday, DLSA secretary Pronita Morang said, “As we all Know COVID-19 has created a traumatic situation in the entire world, everyone is concerned about it’s transmission.”
“As now we can’t visit the jail premises due to lockdown, we thought of conducting a awareness programme via video conferencing to aware and reduce the fear among inmates at jail, who are languishing behind the bars,” Morang added.
“Following the directives of Supreme Court of India to decongest jails in an attempt to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, 15 numbers of under-trial prisoners of Hojai district accused of petty offences has been released from jail on personal release bond,” Morang informed.