Superintendent of Prisons, Colonel Trevor Pennyfeather said he plans to introduce stricter measures to reduce the likelihood of another Covid-19 outbreak at His Majesty’s Prison.
Colonel Pennyfeather confirmed to Observer media that all staff members and prisoners who tested positive for Covid-19 nearly a month ago have now fully recovered.
“What we have done is what we did during the height of Covid, which is to ensure [firstly] when inmates come in, they are tested and put on quarantine for seven days and thereafter they are [re-tested] to ensure that there are no signs of the virus, and we allow them to mingle with the general population.
“For the officers as well as the civilian staff, we have the necessary hand-washing and sanitisation [equipment] and the mask-wearing [policy] within the yard,” he said.
About 24 inmates and four officers originally tested positive for Covid-19 back in early April.
Colonel Pennyfeather said the individuals were retested and have now been returned to His Majesty’s Prison.
The country’s lone correctional facility has seen two Covid outbreaks within the past two years as overcrowding has made it easier for prisoners to fall ill and spread their illness to other inmates.
Some prisoners have even sought to use the outbreak to call for early release, mainly from those who had less than six months of their sentence left to serve.