Barrister calls for release of prisoners to reduce spread of coronavirus as two inmates die

Jeremy Dein QC described the situation as ‘pandemonium’ and said all non-dangerous criminals and many of the 30,000 people on remand awaiting trial should be released.

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Two prisoners have died so far after contracting coronavirus.

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In an interview with ITV London News, Mr Dein said: “Visits have been cancelled, phone calls have been cancelled and an additional problem is remand prisoners are having no contact with their lawyers so they don't know what's going on.”

The lawyer said the decision to postpone new trials to limit the spread of coronavirus had created a ‘massive backlog’, leaving 30,000 remand prisoners in limbo ‘indefinitely’.

“The only word that springs to my mind is pandemonium,” he added

“The majority of prisoners are doubled up in cells. It's my understanding that sanitisation remains problematic and all the things we are being told to do minute by minute, hour by hour, are simply not feasible in prison because the resources are not there. The reality of the situation is hellish.

“My plea is to find some means to avoid the prison population being the forgotten people.

“And whether convicted or not convicted, these are human beings who are just as much at risk as the rest of us.

“For those not convicted and are presumed innocent, many of those have to be released on bail. Many, many more than would usually be the case because the conditions as they stand are not acceptable and they are inhumane.

“The worst case scenario for the prisoners is that somehow the prisoners manage to riot to a degree that makes the prison completely unworkable.

“Looked at from another angle, terrible outbreaks of coronavirus. There are different possibilities equally as horrendous.”

The first British prisoner to die after contracting coronavirus was an 84-year-old man at HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire.

A 66-year-old man serving a sentence at HMP Manchester has also died.

Mr Dein added: “As soon as coronavirus gets into prisons, the problem escalates to a new level.”