Prisons and COVID-19 – urgent action needed

Kirstine Szifris says prisoners are at enormous risk from COVID-19 infection and policy must respond with early releases and an immediate stop to movement of inmates during the lockdown

Early on in my career researching and working in prisons, I recall having a conversation with a young man in prison about the problems with accessing health care and the conversation turned to swine flu, the most recent pandemic at the time. He said, “God help us if it ever gets in here.” In my naivety, I asked him why. He told me that when a bug gets into a prison, it spreads like wildfire. Two weeks ago, before the government put any restrictions in place and before we had really understood what we in the UK might have to give up, I remembered this conversation and cancelled a visit to a prison for fear of being the person to take in the virus.

With at least two people in two separate prisons now confirmed as having tested positive for Covid-19, some focus must be on stopping, or at least slowing, the spread. The prison estate has high rates of movement. In Wormwood Scrubs for example, the majority of prisoners stay for between 1 and 3 months. With a population of over 1200 men, movement into and out of the prison (sometimes back into the community, often onto another prison) is regular and high. Further, with 62% of prisons being overcrowded, prisoners live in close proximity to one another, sharing cells, showering facilities, corridors and classrooms. Maintaining a two-meter distance will be very difficult. Access to hygiene products – towels, soap, laundry – is limited with many prisoners having in-cell sanitation (a toilet that they share with their cellmate). Currently, people testing positive for Covid-19 are being kept in isolation. However, what happens when the isolation units are full? When the numbers begin to grow in an environment characterised by little space and few resources? All of this adds up to a perfect storm once the virus has begun to spread.

We know that people in contact with the criminal justice system have higher rates of health problems than the wider population and that the prison population has been aging in the last ten years ( 16% of the population are over 50 and there are  over 1500 prisoners over 70. Although our general understanding of Covid-19 is changing daily, it seems reasonable to assume that with an ageing population and higher rates of underlying conditions, the prison population may have a higher rate of people vulnerable to the virus than the general population.

Preventing the spread of Covid-19 within prisons should be the first priority. To do this we need to minimise movement into prisons and take steps to protect the population (both staff and prisoners). Options include:

• Grant early release to anyone with less than 6 months left on their sentence
• Allow those already licensed for RotL, and with places to stay, leave to remain in their homes until lockdown is over (on tag if required)
• Stop movement between prisons for serving prisoners unless absolutely necessary.
• Increase the use of community orders, suspended sentences and tags for anyone who is likely to get a short sentence.

However, the prison system has been in crisis for some years. Since 2009/10, rates of violence, suicide and self-harm have increased whilst staffing levels have decreased. Further, staff experience has declined with over a third of prison officers having less than three years experience. Beyond the immediate public health crisis prisons face a second threat to prisoner and staff wellbeing. Basically, how do we prevent this from becoming a prison riot?

Prisons are already reducing their regimes and isolating prisoners where possible. An inevitable consequence of this is that people in prison spend more time in their cells which, in turn, can lead to poor well-being and issues around progress as they struggle to access programmes and courses required by their sentence plans. But, perhaps the biggest issue for people on lockdown whilst in prison is their inability to access support from their friends and family. As the whole nation gets a small taste of what it is like to have our freedom curtailed, our use of online resources skyrockets and the number of times we call our friends and family increases.

Some small, gracious acts of kindness from the prison regime could quickly and easily give some comfort to those who are experiencing this pandemic from behind prison walls:

• Provide free phone credit to all prisoners and increase their ability to access phone lines
• Expedite the use of technology for online visits
• Lift the ban on internet use and allow prisoners to access information
• Review the options for in-cell activities include the use of tablets for learning
• Provide materials such as books, music, and craft
• Communicate regularly and carefully with all prisoners

However, the biggest step the Government could take today, is to temporarily repeal the law that bans the use of mobile phones in prison. Certain groups such as those convicted of domestic violence or some sex-offenders would have to be excluded. However, this would allow many prisoners easy and regular access to news and on-line resources and increase their ability to maintain family connections.

In these anxious times, we must take steps to ensure people in prison are not forgotten. The government has already begun to announce early release schemes and I would suggest that they look at the system of Release on temporary License (known as RotL) to potentially extend some prisoners’ home leave. Over the past few years, prisons have begun to obtain twitter handles and my feed is filled with comments from governors about what they are doing to help their populations. However, without some serious investment and bigger thinking, the individual efforts of these Governors will be a drop in the ocean.

Kirstine Szifris is a Senior Research Associate at the Policy Evaluation and Research Unit, Manchester Metropolitan University. She has ten years’ experience conducting research into prisons focusing on prison education, wellbeing and personal development.