Handcuffs, 24×7 surveillance, meals on time — inside Covid facility for Vadodara’s prisoners

68 inmates of the Vadodara jail tested positive for Covid-19. Four critical cases were sent to hospital, while the rest have been isolated in a guest house.

64 Covid-positive inmates of the Vadodara Central Jail have been isolated in a municipal guest house | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Vadodara: Sixty-eight inmates at Vadodara Central Jail tested positive for Covid-19 Tuesday, and by Friday, 64 of them were shifted to a Vadodara Municipal Corporation-owned guesthouse called Lalbaug Atithigruh, which has been converted into an isolation Covid-19 facility.

The other four inmates, who were in a critical condition, were admitted to the SSG Hospital in the city.

ThePrint’s Praveen Jain and Kairvy Grewal visited the guest house where the prisoners revealed there is a strong possibility of many more cases emerging from the jail, since they live in close quarters and social distancing can’t be practised.

All the Covid-positive inmates have to wear handcuffs | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Most of the patients at the guest house are above the age of 45 | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The inmates are given three meals and evening tea | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The meal includes dal, sabzi, roti, rice and salad | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The authorities plan to organise Yoga sessions for the Covid-positive inmates | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Health workers are divided into two shifts to provide care to the prisoners | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

64 prisoners were shifted to the facility Friday | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Inmates sit without social distancing at the facility | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The inmates are under round-the-clock surveillance | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint

The patients are locked inside a room at the guest house | Photo: Praveen Jain | ThePrint