UN urges prisoner releases to stem spread of coronavirus
Countries must protect people in detention from the COVID-19 pandemic by releasing vulnerable prisoners, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said Wednesday, France24 reported.
"Covid-19 has begun to strike prisons, jails and immigration detention centres, as well as residential care homes and psychiatric hospitals, and risks rampaging through such institutions' extremely vulnerable populations," the source cited Bachelet as saying.
"Authorities should examine ways to release those particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, among them older detainees and those who are sick, as well as low-risk offenders."
Bachelet pointed out that detention facilities in many countries are severely overcrowded, making detainees and staff particularly vulnerable to catching the deadly new coronavirus.
"People are often held in unhygienic conditions and health services are inadequate or even non-existent. Physical distancing and self-isolation in such conditions are practically impossible," she noted.