Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prisons

Some prevention strategies include symptom screening at entrances, avoiding overcrowding, staggering meal and recreation times, face coverings, signage, and training.

Facilities should develop info-sharing systems to manage confirmed and suspected cases, isolate those potentially infected, and offer flexible sick leave policies for staff members.

ACT Corrective Services commissioner Jon Peach stated that as a result there would be "increased access to telephones" for prisoners to keep in touch with their families.

[18][19][20] Human Rights Watch Americas director José Miguel Vivanco has condemned the treatment of prisoners as humiliating, degrading and a threat to health amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

[26] On 20 March, Minister for Justice Charles Flanagan announced the temporary release of up to 200 prisoners to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading through the country's jails.

Social distancing measures in prisons included visible marks, the closing of gyms and recreation halls, inmates being fed in smaller groups and visits from outside disallowed.

[36] MOJ explained that the legal basis of the measure is the National Property Act (国有財産法, Kokuyū Zaisan Hō).

[36] The Act on Penal Detention Facilities and the Treatment of Inmates and Detainees (刑事収容施設及び被収容者等の処遇に関する法律, Keiji Shūyō-shisetsu oyobi Hisyūyōsha-to no Shogū ni Kansuru Hōristu) does not have provisions for visiting restriction purpose of not spreading infectious diseases, therefore some lawyers criticized this decision.

[37] On April 27, immigration centers (入国者収容所), facility that accommodates foreigners have been pronounced deportation, are also subject of visiting restriction.

[40] A riot in a migrant detention center in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico, left a Guatemalan man dead and four people injured on March 31.

[45] There has been a discrepancy in the numbers provided by different authorities in Punjab, but according to the highest figures collated by Justice Project Pakistan, the country has more than 100 cases in prisons, as of April 13.

[48] A riot started at the prison in the Buriram Province in northeastern Thailand on March 29 when a false rumor about a coronavirus infection spread as a cover-up for an escape attempt.

[56] Following the case in HMP Manchester, public services think tank Reform called for the release of 2,305 "low-risk" offenders on short sentences to reduce the risk of coronavirus within the prison population.

[59] On March 21, former Justice Secretary David Gauke called for the suspension of short sentences and early release of some prisoners to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

[63]On any given day, 2.3 million people are incarcerated in 6,000 facilities in the United States, presenting officials with the difficult task of preventing coronavirus outbreaks among prisoners and staff.

Former Attorney General William Barr announced on March 26, 2020, that he had instructed federal prisons to free some inmates to lessen the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

[71] A high-profile release was Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman of President Trump, who, at age 71, left a federal prison in Pennsylvania to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement due to coronavirus concerns.

Although the government recorded his health status as "recovered," he died in his cell on February 8, 2021, raising questions about the overall accuracy of data from federal prisons.

[82] In the past decades, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has turned to private, for profit companies to house the growing detainee population.

[95] The Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC) suspended visitations and announced additional sanitation measures, but The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that inmates had seen no extra soap.

[111] On March 24, a 31-year-old male Mexican national in custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Hackensack, New Jersey, was held in isolation after being tested positive for COVID-19.

[112] After a guard and a prisoner tested positive for coronavirus at the Rikers Island prison, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stated that city officials will identify individuals for release, including persons arrested for minor crimes and those most vulnerable to infection due to chronic health problems.

[121] On April 22, federal judge James S. Gwin ordered the Elkton prison to identify vulnerable inmates and transfer them from the facility.

[124] The first COVID-19 positive case in the Wisconsin state prison system, an employee at Waupun Correctional Institution, was reported on March 18 by warden Brian Foster.

Venezuelan prisons frequently lack bathrooms, people sleep on floors, and many inmates spend their days without shirts or shoes on, in part to combat the heat of windowless facilities.

[127] This has caused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to demand the Maduro government release six Citgo executives, held in prison since 2017, on humanitarian grounds.

[129] The Venezuelan Medical Federation asked for the release of political prisoners in the country, specifically Roberto Marrero, Juan Requesens and other lawmakers.

[130] On March 18, 84 out of 518 inmates escaped from a prison in San Carlos, Zulia, after restrictions against the pandemic were announced, including jail visits.

According to Carlos Nieto Palma from the NGO Ventana a la Libertad, the suspension of visits directly affects the prisoner's nutrition, given that there was no state-sponsored program to feed them.

[131] The NGO Provea denounced "grave human rights violations" after a military spokesperson announced the "neutralization" of 35 escapees.