Prisons keeping coronavirus at bay, PS says

Inmates at Kamiti Maximum Prison head to fix their lunch in January 2017. State Department for Correctional Services says they set to guard against coronavirus in prisons. [File, Standard]

The prison department says it has put adequate measures to guard over 54,000 inmates and remandees under its care from the highly-contagious coronavirus.

It holds that all the 107 correctional facilities across the country have enough food rations to last through the pandemic.

Correctional Services Principal Secretary Zeinab Hussein on Thursday said they were “fully prepared” to deal with the virus outbreak and were meeting Interior CS Fred Matiang’i daily to review their risk mitigation strategy.

“Our food production has quadrupled since 2018, which has reinforced our self-sufficiency,” PS Hussein said in a statement, adding that they don’t foresee any shortages.

The department added that it had instituted strict protocols including disinfecting vehicles and enforcing high hygiene standards for suppliers who brought other necessary commodities into the prisons.

Lockdown

To contain the spread of the virus that has already infected seven people in Kenya, all visits to prison lines, borstal institutions and youth corrective training centres will be suspended for 30 days.

Also, health facilities within prisons will not be open to the public.

“No visitors will be allowed at our correctional facilities as a precautionary measure to minimise face-to-face contact and interaction with the civilian population. This injunction has also been extended to the prison staff,” PS Hussein said.

This effectively means the prisons will be under lockdown.

Inmates will remain accommodated in their respective blocks, wards, and cells as per the current registers without any unnecessary movement.

On ensuring the safety of prisoners under the lockdown, PS Hussein says they are conducting regular screening and have set up enough hand washing points at all the facilities.

“To ensure uninterrupted supply of soaps, detergents, and sanitisers, the Athi River GK Prison has scaled up the producing of these items to meet the increasing demand within the prison industry.”

Further, the prison department adds that it has dispatched a team of health specialists to join the county disease surveillance teams in the management of its infirmaries, which now have isolation units in readiness for an outbreak in the prisons.

Meanwhile, the Regional Prisons Commanders have been directed to conduct daily inspections of all correctional facilities and routinely report on their preparedness to the headquarters.