This page contains links to Covid-19 in prisons news from various sources and is updated daily. Use the filters to view articles from different regions/topics or use the search box to look for articles based on key words. Please note that these articles are from external sources and may not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of ICPA.
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Prison officer tests positive for Covid
August 1, 2020
An employee of the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service is one of the four persons tested positive for Covid-19 coronavirus on Saturday.
Ban on prison visits remains for now
July 11, 2020
There is no word yet on when a ban on visits to inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds, intended to secure the prison population from the coronavirus, will end, Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson has told journalists.
Haïti – Justice : Critères de libération pour désengorger les prisons en Haïti
June 25, 2020
En début de semaine, le Premier Ministre, Joseph Jouthe, a présidé une réunion virtuelle avec des représentants d’organisations de défense des droits humains autour des critères pour que les détenus bénéficient des mesures exceptionnelles de mise en liberté, afin de désengorger les prisons du pays, et lutter contre le phénomène de détention préventive prolongée face à l’évolution du Covid-19
Haiti’s president pardons more than 400 prisoners
June 23, 2020
President Jovenel Moise has pardoned 415 prisoners in a bid to reduce overcrowding at prisons across the country as a senior United Nations official said that the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country had experienced an overall increase in gang-related and criminal activity during the first six months of the year.
Haiti’s president pardons more than 400 prisoners
June 23, 2020
President Jovenel Moise has pardoned 415 prisoners in a bid to reduce overcrowding at prisons across the country as a senior United Nations official said that the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country had experienced an overall increase in gang-related and criminal activity during the first six months of the year.
Prison chief assures meals meet health standards
June 12, 2020
Nearly half dozen inmates at Her Majesty’s Prison at Dodds, St Philip who went on a hunger strike last week are eating again, prison boss John Nurse has revealed.
Prisons receive donation of 10 sanitising stations
June 8, 2020
The Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service has received a donation of ten sanitising stations.
Strict COVID-19 Protocols In Place At Bordelais Correctional Facility
June 6, 2020
Saint Lucia’s Deputy Director of Corrections has disclosed that strict COVID-19 protocols are in place at the Bordelais Correctional Facility (BCF).
Health supplies for Haiti as prison records cases of COVID-19
June 5, 2020
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS) has responded to a request from Haitian prison officials for “urgent assistance” as the number of prisoners contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19) reached 26 at three prison facilities.
COVID-19: CARICOM IMPACS AND THE BRITISH HIGH COMMISSION EXTEND SUPPORT TO PRISONS IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO AND GRENADA
June 3, 2020
Prisons are generally considered to be amplifiers in the spread of infectious diseases and pose a great challenge for authorities working to prevent and contain COVID-19.
Update: Three inmates end hunger strike
June 2, 2020
The three inmates who were engaged in a hunger strike since Monday have ended their protest.
T&T prisons to get more sanitisation equipment
June 2, 2020
On Monday 8 June 2020, the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service will receive ten sanitation tunnels to support the sanitisation of persons coming into and out of the prisons.
COVID-19 Has Reached Haiti’s Overcrowded Prisons. Some Fear A Human Rights Disaster
May 27, 2020
With COVID-19 infections spiking in Haiti, where fevers are quickly spreading inside the country’s overcrowded prisons, hundreds of inmates risk dying of the novel coronavirus, the government’s chief ombudsman says.
Coronavirus detected in Haiti’s largest prison
May 22, 2020
Nearly a dozen detainees in Haiti’s largest prison have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, an administrator told AFP Thursday, as fears mounted that the disease could spread like wildfire through the country’s dirty and overcrowded correctional system.
Two Northward inmates test positive for COVID-19
May 19, 2020
HMP Northward has been closed to the public after two male inmates tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement issued by Her Majesty’s Cayman Islands Prison Service Tuesday morning.
COVID-19 testing underway at prison underway
May 16, 2020
Health officials have begun testing inmates at the Department of Correctional Services, according to health consultant in the Office of the Prime Minister Dr Merceline Dahl-Regis.
Prison inmates trained as medical orderlies
April 23, 2020
SEVERAL inmates in the country’s correctional facilities have been trained as COVID-19 medical orderlies, a direct response from the Ministry of National Security to prevent the spread of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus to that population.
Prison visits further suspended — DCS
April 22, 2020
“The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is advising the public that the suspension of visits to correctional centres across the island will remain in effect until May 31. The decision, the DSC said, follows an increase in COVID-19 cases, especially in quarantined areas where correctional centres are located.”
Prisoners released to ease jail crowding
April 20, 2020
The prison director has released on licence fourteen local prisoners who were approaching the end of their sentence or deemed to be low risk to reduce prison overcrowding and control the potential spread of the coronavirus at HMP Northward.
Inmates set mattresses on fire and hurl objects at guards and cops as they’re hit with rubber bullets during riot at notorious Dominican Republic prison where fury mounts after four people die of coronavirus
April 10, 2020
“At least five inmates and one guard were injured during riot inside a notorious Dominican Republic prison on Thursday as inmates demanded to be released over fears of a coronavirus outbreak. Detainees used smuggled cellphones to record the rebellion as inmates set mattresses in fire and hurled objects at guards and cops, who responded by firing rubber pellets at the overcrowded La Victoria National Penitentiary in Santo Domingo.”
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