No case of COVID-19 among prisoners: DG
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: In a path-breaking initiative, the Prisons Department J&K in collaboration with the University of Jammu and Government College for Women Parade conducted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) at District Jail, Ambphala here to help inmates overcome sleep difficulties.
The target group of 61 inmates, including 6 female inmates, was selected on the basis of baseline data identifying those who figured high on the insomnia severity index. The intervention comprised evaluation of sleep problems, sleep log monitoring, exercises for improved sleep hygiene, relaxation techniques, addressing dysfunctional belief related to sleep, assessing treatment compliance and review of participants’ progress.
The sessions were held within the Jail premises with the help of Dr Arti Bakshi, Head, Department of Psychology, University of Jammu and Dr Piyali Arora, Assistant Professor, Clinical Psychologist, Government College for Women, Parade, Jammu.
Both of them were present during the media briefing held at the Jail by VK Singh, DG Prisons, J&K and Mirza Saleem Ahmed Beig, Superintendent, District Jail Jammu.
VK Singh said that a need was felt to address sleep problems for better reformation of inmates which led to planning and implementation of this intervention. Sleep problems affect the health of inmates adversely and long-term sleep problems among inmates may lead to memory issues, poor concentration, weak immune system, susceptibility to diabetes, depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, etc., which in turn create an extra burden on the system and pose serious challenges in corrections, he added.
DG Prisons informed that after the successful conduct of this intervention at District Jail Jammu, the department is planning to conduct the programme in others jails of the Union Territory.
Mirza Saleem Ahmed Beig stated that in the present COVID-19 scenario, the advantages of a healthy immune system have been repeatedly highlighted. The intervention took place while observing guidelines for social distancing, use of face masks and regular hand washing.
The faculty of JU and GCW Parade stated that CBT-I was conducted with 61 inmates and feedback/data analysis reveals that there has been a significant improvement in quality of sleep/sleeping duration of these inmates (66% had benefited) over a period of three months.
While replying to a query, DG informed that there is no case of COVID-19 among the 3,628 prisoners lodged in 14 jails across Jammu and Kashmir. He added that currently, 150 new prisoners are undergoing mandatory 14-day quarantine within jail premises. None of them have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Singh said.
To another query, Singh said that the inmates are contacting their relatives through the prison inmate calling system under which two pre-verified numbers of each prisoner is loaded in the calling machine.
To facilitate trials and interaction between prisoners and their family members, video conferencing, which was initially introduced in the Jammu District Jail and the central jails in Jammu and Srinagar, was extended to all other jails, Singh said.
Regarding manufacturing of masks by the inmates, Superintendent of the District Jail, Mirza Saleem Ahmad Beig, said, “Initially, we received demand from Government Departments and started making the face masks which was subsequently given to frontline workers as well. Beig said there is enough stock of masks and they are being sold at markets”.
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