Vangelis Stathopoulos is one of the more than half a million prisoners in Europe, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. “When I contracted the coronavirus last December, about half of the prisoners here were sick at the same time,” said Stathopoulos from the Larissa prison. Prisons are an ideal place for the transmission of the coronavirus, they are overcrowded and often with poor hygiene. However, little has been reported about the spread of COVID-19 in penitentiaries.
DW, in collaboration with 12 other newsrooms within the European Data Journalism Network, collected data from 29 countries on coronavirus-related cases and deaths in prisons, how they are conducted vaccines, but also the measures taken to limit the spread of the pandemic.
Filippa Alves da Costa, a public health consultant with the World Health Organization’s Prison Health Program, says the risk in prisons is similar to that faced by people living in shelters or shelters, for example. Many inmates also have other aggravating factors that increase their risk of developing severe coronavirus, such as HIV or a history of drug use.
Coronavirus in prisons – Consequences
Coronavirus outbreaks in prisons affect not only inmates or staff, but also surrounding communities. In the United States, where the coronavirus was rapidly transmitted to prisons in 2020, comparative data showed that mass incarceration was associated with more than half a million coronavirus cases in and out of prisons. “If prisons are not protected, the community is not protected,” said da Costa.
According to a study by researchers from Barcelona, ​​most countries have imposed severe lockouts in prisons since the beginning of the pandemic. Visits stopped immediately or were severely limited in almost all countries. In many prisons sports and leisure activities, but also work was suspended, while exit permits went on the ice. “Even our letters have been quarantined,” said Tsampa Vas, who is being held in a Hungarian prison.
COVID-19 rates in prisons and the general population
The data collected as part of the investigation show that, at first glance, the restrictive measures taken across Europe helped to avoid the worst: prisons were not turned into coronavirus hotspots altogether. Where infection rates were high in the general population, the picture in prisons was similar. But in some countries the incidence of coronavirus in prisons has remained lower than in the general population – even in Hungary and France, countries with notorious, overcrowded prisons.
However, even in countries with low incidence, isolated prisons can become hotbeds of over-transmission. “There is clearly a problem of lack of reporting,” said Adriano Martufi, who is researching prison conditions across Europe at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. For example, the Larissa prisons had officially reported by July 2020, only 200 cases of coronavirus. According to Stathopoulos, it is much more: “Between December 2020 and today, I believe we had more than 500 cases.”
Inadequate case reporting may not be intentional, but it may be due to organizational challenges. “Prison health services are understaffed and inadequately equipped,” explains Martoufi. “I’m not even sure if they have the technical capacity to collect and manage such data.”
Low case rates with high price
Even if the rates of coronavirus infection are low, the restrictions imposed to limit transmission often have additional side effects. According to the UN provisions on the treatment of prisoners, isolation should be used only as a last resort, for as short a time as possible and never for more than 15 days.
However, during the pandemic, the isolation of prisoners has become a common practice in many countries. In some prisons in Germany, pre-trial detainees were isolated for 14 days after each hearing. A prison in Malta kept young inmates in a cell with only a mattress on the floor and an open floor-standing toilet for 23 hours a day for two weeks – conditions the European Commission for the Prevention of Torture has condemned since 2013.
For many inmates, the ban on visits was particularly difficult. As Vas reports about Hungary: “Before the pandemic we had two and a half hours of physical contact with their relatives twice a month. “Her absence caused serious mental problems.” According to the European Court of Human Rights, detainees have the right to family life.
The structural problems worsened the situation
As in many other social sectors, the situation is deteriorating due to other structural problems that preceded the pandemic. One in three European countries has prisons that operate above their official capacity.
Lack of available space makes it impossible to maintain distances and the implementation of alternative measures is hampered by a lack of staff, said Kathryn Heard, head of the International Prison Research Program at the British University’s Institute for Criminology and Criminal Justice. “When there is no staff to transport people inside the prisons, there is no choice but to keep them locked in cells most of the day and night.”
In fact, the situation in individual prisons is much worse than the average of each country suggests. “I’m in a cell for five people – Now there are eight of us. “It is impossible to keep our distance,” a Croatian prisoner who went on a hunger strike in early March 2020 said in a Croatian media report. “In practice, we feel like death row inmates. “We are waiting for the coronavirus to reach the prison.”
Increase in prisoners – Delays in vaccinations
During the first wave of the pandemic, many countries across Europe released unprecedented numbers of prisoners in order to ease the pressure on prisons. Herd believes that it is vital to maintain this trend now. However, in many countries the positive trend that had started to be recorded in the spring of 2020 seems to be reversed.
Following an initial drop, prison numbers are rising again in almost half of the countries surveyed – in some cases exceeding initial levels. With structural problems exacerbating the already complex situation in prisons, the “return to normalcy” of prisons depends on the same factor that concerns the rest of society: vaccination. “When it was announced that there was a vaccine, people calmed down more,” Vas said. “As far as I know, almost all the inmates here did it.”
Despite the high risk of transmission, most countries did not, however, include those incarcerated in the vaccination priority groups. Many did not even take them into account. “There were clear indications from independent, supranational organizations that prisoners should be given priority,” Martufi said. “An example that shows a discrepancy between political recommendations on the one hand and what is happening in practice on the other.”
The start of vaccinations in prisons has been significantly delayed. In some countries, not a single vaccine was distributed to prisons before June 2021, while others said they started vaccinating in late March.
Lessons for the future
With the new wave of pandemics reaching most European countries, the pandemic is not over for anyone and certainly not for people in prison. Experts believe that countries need to drastically reduce the number of detainees in order to better prepare for similar situations in the future. “The coronavirus should act as a wake-up call for better detention conditions and reduced prison use,” said Kathryn Herd.
But in order for this appeal to be heard, it is vital that there is a public interest and political will. “It’s time to reconsider our perception of detainees as second-class citizens,” Martoufi said. “We can not leave anyone behind. It will be worse for everyone. “
Kira Sacht
The article was edited by Milan Ganion, Gianna Karina Grun and Peter Hill. Translated into Greek by Dimitra Kyranoudi.
DW
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