All new prisoners put in quarantine for 14 days

“We don’t have any prisoner with COVID. All new prisoners, including foreigners, are kept in quarantine block for 14 days before shifting them to other blocks,” a senior officer told this newspaper.

A couple from Iran, who was arrested by the Thanjavur police two weeks ago for an attention diversion crime, has been housed in the isolation ward in the high security block at Puzhal prison complex, sources added.

Alisafar Bararesh and his wife Marjan Aghjeri came from Iran – a country badly hit by COVID 19 outbreak – on a valid tourist visa in the first week of February. Initial round of tests showed that they were not infected. But the prison officials have been asked to keep caution while interacting with them.

Sources added that other prisoners and prison officials are not going near the ward. Two inmates take turn to deliver food to them.