The Odisha Prison Authority has asked police to conduct RT-PCR test to detect coronavirus infection in accused before sending them to judicial custody.

According to official sources, 96 inmates of 10 prisons in the State are infected by the virus. Besides, 17 staffs of four jails have tested positive for Covid-19.

Officials said the highest 54 cases of infection have been detected in prisons of the Brahmapur Circle that also includes Ganjam district which has been hit hardest by the pandemic.

A total of 17,509 inmates are lodged in the State’s 85 prisons, an official said, adding that the first confirmed case was found in the Puri jail on May 17 when an arrested accused tested positive.

According to Director General, Prison, SK Upadhay, 16,789 inmates have been released from jails across the State on parole to decongest prisons in the wake of the pandemic. Besides, the authorities have shifted over 1,200 inmates to other prisons to reduce crowding. Of those released on parole by July 28, 16,639 are under-trials and 150 convicts.

The highest 5,231 inmates were released on parole under the Brahmapur Circle keeping in view the vulnerability of Ganjam district, which has so far reported 9,996 positive cases and accounted for 90 deaths.

Meanwhile, authorities of the Special Jail in Bhubaneswar conducted antigen tests on 150 inmates and all the prisoners are being given a herbal concoction (Kadha) to boost immunity, said Jail Superintendent Dhiren Kumar Barik. This apart, isolation wards are being disinfected in all jails as soon as the arrival of a new inmate, a senior official at the Prison Directorate said and added that inmates in some jails are also being given homoeopathic medicines to boost their immunity.