NHRC urges to control infection in jail

Kathmandu: In the wake of rising cases of COVID-19 among the inmates of late, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged the government to adopt high alertness for the safety of inmates, security persons and jail employees.

Issuing a press release on Wednesday, NHRC Secretary Bed Prasad Bhattarai said although the PCR test is conducted on new inmates, the risk of future infection can not be ignored.

So, the new inmates could be kept separately from the old ones for time being, he suggested the government.

Secretary Bhattarai further asked the government to ensure prisoners’ right to life and right to health. Central jail, the district jails from Banke, Sunsari, Siraha, Parsa and others recorded the infection of coronavirus among prisoners, security persons and prison employees.

Meanwhile, the NHRC garnered information about the inmates from the department of prison management. There are more than 21,000 inmates in 71 jails across the country.

The monitoring conducted by the NHRC over times has showed most of the prisons are crowded in the country, which is detrimental.