Srinagar: At least 23 prisoners are COVID positive and 219 inmates are under quarantine across prisons of the territory in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
An official handout released by the authorities reads that 4,572 inmates are lodged in 13 jails of the territory. It says that of these, 23 inmates (21 from Kathua jail, one from Kot Bhalwal jail and one from Jammu jail) are COVID positive. It further states that 219 inmates are under quarantine in prisons across the territory.
The handout says that at present, 635 inmates including 27 women are lodged in Srinagar Central Jail and there is no COVID positive case in the jail.
However, relatives of the detainees have said that many inmates have shown symptoms of COVID-19 and in the absence of proper testing facilities at the prisons, the number of the affected prisoners may be much higher than the figure claimed by the authorities.
