Coronavirus: Delhi govt decides to grant special parole, furlough to convicts to decongest prisons

The city government on Monday told the Delhi High Court that its has made a decision to decongest capital’s prisons to curb the spread of coronavirus by granting convicts with the option of special parole and furlough.

A bench of justice Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, taking note of the submision, gave order to the Delhi government to take the needed measures during the day to enforce the action.

Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government submitted that it will amend its prison rules to grant the option of special parrole and furlough. The Delhi government stated that a notice would be put out within a day to amend the prison rules to incorporate the new provisions.

The Delhi government’s suggestion came while making a response to a petition filed by two lawyers asking for decongesting of the prison citing the Covid-19.

A different plea on the matter has also been filed before the High Court asking for order to the Delhi government and the prison authorities to instantly provide face masks and hand sanitizers to all the prisoners in Tihar and other prison in the national capital.

A plea moved by lawyer Vikas Padora has also sought instruction to spray disinfectants or isolate the compound of jails. Padora also sought to set up isolation wards in the prisons compound.

It has asked the court to give orders so that the spread of the deadly pathogen can be restrained as much as possible in the prisons on all parts of India.

“As per the data available on the website Tihar Jail, there is capacity of 5,200 inmates, whereas at present there are more than 12,100 inmates lodged in Tihar Jail itself, which clearly shows that the prison Tihar Jail is excessively overcrowded and functioning beyond its capacity,” the petition said.

“The same is the situation with most of the Jails in India,” Vikas Padora added.

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