SHILLONG, June 4: Keeping up with Meghalaya’s plan to vaccinate all jail inmates, the government inched forward in its objective after inoculating as many as 66 inmates at Shillong jail, falling under the category of 45 years and above, on Friday.
Informing this, Inspector General (Prisons), M Kharkrang, said that the inmates vaccinated on Friday were prioritised and inoculated. “All of them will be vaccinated subsequently but first we are going with 45 years and above,” said the IG adding that the drive will also be carried out in all other prisons.
Prison staff and their family members, who could not get their COVID vaccine earlier, were also administered their first doses.
The IG said that before the vaccination drive began, he had personally visited the prison to disseminate awareness on the need to get vaccinated.
He maintained that all beneficiaries had volunteered to take the jab, while stating that none will be forced to be vaccinated.
Admitting that the prison is crowded despite decongestion measures, he maintained that taking the vaccine is important for the inmates as it will protect them from the virus.
With regard to the precautionary measures put in place in the jail, the IG said, “We are not allowing anyone from outside to meet them and they are being monitored by doctors on a daily basis”.
“The new prisoners are also not allowed to mix up and these are few precautionary measures that we have adopted,” he said.
It may be recalled that 1,176 prisoners have been released including 11 convicts, seven prisoners on remission and 1,158 undertrial prisoners.
The decision was taken following the Supreme Court order directing states to constitute a high-power committee and task them with identifying prisoners who could be released on parole or interim bail to decongest jails in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
