Eggs, black channa and soup are now part of the staple diet of elderly prisoners and those with poor health, housed in different Central Prisons in Tamil Nadu. This is an effort to boost their immune systems, in order to help them avoid contracting COVID-19.
There are a total of nine central jails across the State, and in them there are over 200 prisoners above the age of 60 and over 100 who have weak immune systems. At Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai alone, there are over 15 elderly prisoners housed for various offences.
“Last year, during the first wave of the pandemic, prisoners in Puzhal prison got infected and a team of government doctors, who monitored them, suggested this diet. It had a good impact on their health and they recovered. So we reintroduced this diet this year for those who are in need of good immunity,” said Sunil Kumar Singh, DGP, Prisons.
On regular days, the prisoners used to be given upma made of pongal rice for breakfast, for lunch they are given rice, sambar and some vegetables and butter milk, in the evening, ground nuts are provided as a snack, and for dinner rice or chapatis are served.
“We are following all safety protocols in the prisons. In order to strengthen the immune system of prisoners, we started serving healthy food along with the regular menu every day. In most prisons, kashayam, amukara milk, kabasura kudineer, brown channa, lemon juice, lemon soup, milk, murungai (drumstick) soups and eggs are provided,” said A. Murugesan, DIG prisons.
Apart from this, online yoga sessions are also conducted for all the prisoners. “They are also allowed to walk within their block,” added a prison official from Vellore. Besides, the arrested are first placed in 110 sub-jails across the state for quarantine and then brought to the central prisons after testing negative.
