Call for inmates to be freed to avoid prisons becoming coronavirus 'incubators'

Low-risk inmates should be released from prison to avoid them becoming ‘incubators’ for coronavirus, a former chief inspector of prisons has said.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Nick Hardwick suggested prisoners with only a short amount of their sentence left to serve could be freed to help ease the pressure on the prison system.

Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight programme yesterday, he said: “If you're talking about low risk prisoners coming to the end of their sentences, it's perfectly possible to manage them in the community safely.”

Doncaster has a number of prisons in the townDoncaster has a number of prisons in the town
Doncaster has a number of prisons in the town
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He added: “No-one is saying you're going to let out huge numbers of dangerous people, but you can reduce pressure on the system by letting out a bit early people who maybe have got a month or two longer to serve.”

Mr Hardwick warned that ‘hundreds’ of prison staff were off work and self-isolating.

“There's undoubtedly more prisoners have the virus than have been tested and found to have it,” he said.

He said a typical prison cell was ‘a bit wider than my outstretched arms, maybe twice as long, there would be two men in it, a toilet, and they're going to be there 24 hours a day’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Hardwick added: “Now people may not be sympathetic to that, but be clear, people doing short sentences are going to be released back into the community and if we allow prisons to be incubators for the disease that's a problem for us all.”

His comments come after the charity APPEAL called for a section of the total prison population to be set free to avoid exposure to the virus.

The charity also warned of potential risk of suicide amid greater segregation within jails and lack of contact with relatives.

On Wednesday, the first case of an inmate being infected with Covid-19 was confirmed at HMP Manchester.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Two inmates at HMP Kilmarnock in Scotland have also tested positive for the virus.

Mr Hardwick said the prison system in the UK was ‘better organised’ than in Italy, where riots were sparked by strict lockdown measures and restrictions on visits in the fight against coronavirus.