Scared about coronavirus as you go about your everyday life? Spare a thought for those living and working inside our battered prison system. In Italy yesterday the anxiety that underpins all incarceration suddenly exploded into violence. Rioting left six prisoners dead, staff were taken hostage, dozens escaped and one prison in Poggioreale near Naples was ‘completely destroyed’.
The ferocious backlash was in response to tough new measures introduced across the country to try to slow the relentless progress of Covid-19. These included a ban on the all-important prisoner family visits, which are seen by experts as dramatically increasing the risk of contagion in places almost wholly unsuited to withstand its effects.
Italy has a significantly lower prison population than the UK but it shares some worrying characteristics including overcrowded, decrepit jails and poor access to sanitation. The reaction of Italian prisoners could quite easily be replicated here, with or without restrictions on visits. On some current projections of how the virus will develop in the UK, we’ve got about two weeks to get prepared.
On some current projections of how the virus will develop in the UK, we’ve got about two weeks to get prepared
Department of Health guidance on the management of communicable diseases is clear about the dangers of flu-like illnesses infecting our prisons.
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