UN officials claim that it is impossible to maintain social
distancing and hygiene in prison and other institutions. The UN Correction,
Justice and Human Rights team are trying their best to work on the protection
of prison staff and the detainees in order to reduce the number of cases of
COVID – 19 in the custody and other institutions.
In Myanmar the UN
and Human Rights team has been working to improve hygiene in prison which would
lead to a decrease in the cases of COVID – 19. The UN is also trying to prepare
prisons and other institutions to cope with unexpected rises in the cases. This
has involved certain purchases like hand sanitizers, mask and Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE).
On 17th April 2020 Ola
Almgren (UN resident coordinator) had welcomed the Government’s Pardon and
released around 25,000 people, the ongoing efforts to improve the sanitization
Homes procedure in prison as well as improving the detention policies or
facilities.[1]
In India the
jails and prisons are vastly crowded. Among these prisoners there are around
70% cases which are undertrials. The prisoners are arrested on a daily basis.
On 16th March 2020 Hon’ble Supreme Court took Suo
Motu cognisance of the issue and asked the state to file an affidavit with
respect to steps taken by them to prevent the spread of COVID – 19 in prison
and in juvenile . In response to that order, the state decided to release a
large number of under trials on bail specially those who have been arrested for
less serious crimes or offences.
Subsequently, on 23 March 2020 the apex court said in the
order stating to release prisoners especially those who have been sentenced for
less than seven years or those whose maximum punishment is seven years. The
order further stated that the release will be provisional bail. The order also
stated that a high powered committee would be set up to administer the release.
The committee will be chaired by the chairperson of the state legal services.
Further the Supreme Court added that the prisoners who would be released should
not be stranded; rather a proper transportation system is to be set up in order
to reach the prisoners to their homes or the shelters that have been set up by
the Government during the lockdown.
Most prisoners do not have proper facilities to toilets,
water supply and other hygienic necessities. Apart from overcrowding jails and
prisons the other issue of rise in the number of cases of COVID – 19 is lack of
hygiene. The main reason for lack of hygiene is shortage of water supply in
jails and shortfall of washing and bathing soaps provision adds to more
problems.
Among women in the custody the supply of sanitary napkins is
to be ensured – something which is not existing. This problem is similar to the
places where women are made to stay- example, in the care centres.
The situation or the risk of COVID – 19 in prison very
easily comes into the limelight but other institutions like old age homes,
beggars’ homes, women and children’s institutions suffer from complete neglect.
Prevention of pandemic in these institutions can only be maintained by strict
sanitization protocol, and enhancing the immunity of the residents.
People in old age homes are not staying out of their wish
rather they are compelled to stay as their family members are not willing to
keep them or they do not have a family. In such cases, such residents cannot be
released or asked to vacate the place as they would be abandoned and stranded
on roads. The aged people are more vulnerable to COVID as either they would be
battling with some other health disorder or they might be having low immunity.
In such cases a special care needs to be taken, strict sanitation protocol must
be maintained and a strict diet should be maintained which would be nutritious
like grams, jaggery, nuts and fruits rich in Vitamin C.
For beggars’ Homes – the one’s arrested for begging is
sentenced with imprisonment from one to ten years (1 to 10). The years of
imprisonment vary from state to state. In the current situation the
implementation of beggary laws can be suspended till the situation is back to
normal.
The next issue that leads to a rise in the number of cases
of COVID is the working condition of the institutional staff. In 2019 around
30% - 40% vacancy was found in judiciary, police and prison staff. This led to
a burden on the remaining staff as they had to take extra – precautions for
themselves as well as people in custody. Upon seeing the crisis of working
staff certain solutions were found out in order to reduce the burden of the
staff. The solutions are:
1. It was made compulsory
for the staff and prisoners to wear face masks.
2. There was installation
of basins for hand
wash and soap at the main gate.
3. The water supply was
increased.
4. The toilet premise was
cleaned by appointing housekeeping in order to maintain hygiene in premises. [2]
COVID – 19, like other infectious diseases, poses higher
risk where the population stays in close proximity to each other. This disease
disproportionately affects older people or those people who already have some
other health disorder like hypertension,
diabetes etc.
The risk is acute particularly in places of detention like
prison, jails, immigration detention centres. The risk is high due to lack of
water supply and hygiene even in economically developed countries. The state is
obliged to provide medical health care for those in custody at least equivalent
to health care facilities provided to the general public. The state can also
not deny detainees including asylum seekers, undocumented migrants from equal
access to preventive, curative or palliative health care.
In the US the department of Veteran affair announced “no
visitor policy” for 134 nursing homes around the country in response to the
risk of COVID – 19. Many people in the US have not been convicted of crime but
they have been locked up as they are financially weak to bail them out. The
growing population of prisoners are mostly women and older people. Due to the
heavy sentences of crime the officials
of prison are not able to provide the basic medical health care. In the
response to this situation, one country in the US state of Ohio has released
some from jail.
In Italy the
prisoners in around 40 prisons protested against the fear of overcrowding and
ban of family visiting and supervised release of some prisoners amid the
coronavirus outbreak. In response the authorities for the first time used Skype
to meet families and practise social distancing. Civil society organisations
have also asked for alternatives to detention for the people currently detained
in immigration detention centres due to increased risk of infection and no
facility for deportation.
There are certain recommendations
that have been given by the UN, Human rights team, Government and other
concerned authority for protection of people in custody and other institutions.
The recommendations are as follows:
1. The authorities that
operate in jails, prisons, immigration detention centres and other intuitions
must disclose the blueprint of the plan that they are planning to implement in
response to protection of outbreak if COVID – 19 in their institutions.
2. There must be reduction
in the population in jails, prisons, immigration detention centres and other
institutions. The reduction of population must be implemented under appropriate
supervision.
3. There must be an early
release for less serious offences or unjustified offence or a scheduled
release. Older people or people underlying health conditions should also be
released as they are comparatively exposed to getting infected to monogenic disorder.
4. The authorities must
ensure that the detainees have the same right to health as
the equivalent general population (those who are not
detained).
5. There must be proper
hygiene training given to the detainees and must ensure proper supply of water
and must maintain proper hygiene.
6. The detainees must go
under screening and test of COVID – 19 on a regular
basis so as to provide medical care to any detainee who is infected and isolate him/her if required.
7. Government housing
refugees and asylum seekers must take certain steps in
order to prevent the outbreak of COVID – 19. These institutions must improve
treatment, sanitization, and time bound quarantine; provide access to health
care and isolation if it is necessary.[3]
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