LIBRARY

TECHNICAL NOTE: COVID-19 AND CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF THEIR LIBERTY

Lessons learned from previous outbreaks emphasize the need for States to accommodate increased child protection needs when devising and implementing their response plans. This note aims to provide detaining authorities with key information and steps to respond to COVID-19 including by:

– Instituting a moratorium on new children entering detention facilities;
– Releasing all children who can be safely released; and
– Protecting the health and well-being of any children who must remain in detention.

Source: The alliance for child protection in humanitarian action

PREPAREDNESS, PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF COVID-19 IN PRISONS AND OTHER PLACES OF DETENTION

People deprived of their liberty, such as people in prisons and other places of detention,1 are likely to be more vulnerable to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak than the general population because of the confined conditions in which they live together for prolonged periods of time. This document aims to assist countries in developing specific plans and/or consolidating further action for prisons and other places of detention in response to the international COVID-19 outbreak, with consideration of preparedness plans, prevention and control strategies, and contingency plans to interface with the wider health and emergency planning system.

Source: WHO-Europe

CORONAVIRUS: HEALTHCARE AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF PEOPLE IN PRISON

While legitimate measures in times of such an emergency are needed to prevent further outbreaks of COVID-19 in prisons, authorities need to ensure human rights are respected. In such anxious times it is even more pertinent that people are not cut off from the outside world, they do not end up in solitary confinement, and most of all they have access to information and adequate healthcare provision – equal of that available in the community . Action needs to be taken now and immediately, given the risk people in prison are exposed to, including prison staff. Such action should be guided by international standards and the values of: Do no harm, equality, transparency, humanity.

Source: Penal Reform International

THE PUBLIC HEALTH NEED TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT OF DETENTION - PRACTICAL GUIDANCE

Fair Trials urges all judicial authorities and criminal justice actors to take urgent action to reduce the number of people being held in pre-trial detention immediately as a matter of public health and safety, and to place arrested persons in pre-trial detention only as a measure of last resort. addressed to judicial authorities and criminal justice actors: Police, Prosecutors, Judges, Lawyers, Prison adm. Concrete recommendations.

Source: Fair Trial International

PREVENTION MEASURES IN EUROPEAN PRISONS

On this page we would like to gather and share all regulations/protocols/approaches European Prison Services or related organisations have drafted or taken in order to deal with the Covid-19 virus.

Source: Europris

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: URGENT STEPS ARE NEEDED TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF PRISONERS IN EUROPE

Convicted prisoners and persons on remand are among those most vulnerable to viral contagion as they are held in a high-risk environment: in general, detention facilities are not adapted to face large-scale epidemics, and the basic protective measures such as social distancing and hygiene rules cannot be observed as easily as outside, exposing prisoners to greater health risks.

Source: Council of Europe