Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association, said conditions inside jails were fertile breeding ground for Covid-19 as the outbreak worsens.
She said governors would “attempt to keep (family) visits going for as long as they can”, while weighing up the public health risk to prisoners and shortages of staff forced to self-isolate.
. . .
Ms Albutt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Listening to the Government’s specialists yesterday, they are saying the mortality rate is below 1% but in the vulnerable groups it is higher.
“Well, in prisons we don’t completely mirror society with our demographic of prisoners so we do have a higher number of people in the vulnerable groups, so they will be ill and there will be deaths.
“We have approximately 85,000 people in our prisons and prisons are overcrowded, so when you have a lot of people in a small area, transmission of disease will obviously be easier.
“Coupled with that, we have a significant ageing population – the vulnerable groups, the people the Government keeps telling us will be more susceptible and more ill with this virus.”
Editors Note: Julian Assange should be included in the ‘vulnerable’ group after prolonged torture and medical majesty in the hands of the Her Majesty’s Prison Service and before.
Read whole article in the Evening Standard
More on Prisons and Covid-19
American Civil Liberties Union: Are Our Prisons and Jails Ready for COVID-19?
Sky News: Coronavirus: (UK) Prisoners could be released early if COVID-19 spreads to inmates and staff
The New Yorker: How Prisons and Jails Can Respond to the Coronavirus
Twitter: Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
Guardian: Prisoners escape in Brazil amid Covid-19 anger
Daily Times: Prison inmates and employees exposed to a positive COVID-19 case are asymptomatic after eight days
Mother Jones: Ohio Judges Are Releasing People From Jails to Fight Coronavirus. It’s a Good Idea.
Time: 16 Italian Prisoners Escape During Coronavirus-Related Riots
RTE: (Ireland) Considering temporary release of non violent prisoners
UK Government:
Official Guidance Coronavirus (COVID-19) and prisons