How will the government handle coronavirus in our prisons?

Covid-19 has entered our prison system. There are now at least two confirmed coronavirus cases in HMPs Manchester and Highdown in Surrey, which means staff and prisoners there are in isolation and hospital. This was inevitable, and as I have said previously, our overcrowded and under-resourced jails need special, urgent consideration. Prisons incubate many malign things behind their walls. Local prisons in particular are overcrowded and insanitary transit camps for people and viruses. So, now that prisoners have become infected, what’s to be done?

The Government does have a plan. I understand that next week legislation will be introduced that will allow certain risk assessed prisoners serving more than 12 weeks and less than four years to be released early under Home Detention Curfew (HDC). HDC was first introduced in the late 90s, in part to ease prison overcrowding. It has the benefit of requiring the offender to wear a remotely monitored ankle tag which could be very useful at a time when tight control of movement is particularly important to ensure he or she stays put at home.