The Uganda Prisons Service (UPS) has closed its 59 COVID-19 isolation centres but also removed restrictions on visiting inmates.
Uganda Prisons Spokesperson, Frank Baine, said the Commissioner General of Prisons, Dr Johnson Byabashaija, has made a decision to close the isolation centres because COVID-19 cases among inmates and staff have drastically reduced.
Baine explains that Uganda Prisons Service currently haS only six active COVID-19 cases among inmates while no staff is being treated for the same. Before COVID-19 numbers dropped, 2,214 inmates had contracted the contagious disease to which five of them succumbed, while three prison warders died out of the total 582 that got infected.
According to Baine, it was unnecessary to keep isolation centres in Jinja, Mbarara, Mbale, Masaka and Kitalya Prisons, among others, when the COVID-19 situation across the country is relatively calm.
Byabashaija has ordered all Officers in Incharge to ensure prisoners are kept within areas of charge as opposed to the COVID-19 arrangement where a person charged in Mukono would be transferred to Kitalya for isolation instead of Kauga which is a stone throw away.
“The admission of new prisoners is reverted to old reception centres. We are no longer using isolation centres. It means if you are charged in Mukono you go Kauga not Kitalya. If you are arrested in Nabweru you to the prison in that area,” Baine said.
The ban on visiting inmates has also been lifted but visitors to prisons and inmates have been urged to go with proof that they have fully been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 have been lifted. We are resuming normal operations including the court. Now we have allowed visitors. The visitors must present evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19,” Baine said.
Ever since Uganda was hit by COVID-19 in March 2020, visitation to prison was restricted to emergencies and special cases. One would be allowed to visit a prison centre after showing a negative COVID-19 certificate.
Byabashaija has however maintained the treatment centres at Luzira, Gulu and Jinja Prisons, while testing for COVID-19 has been added on the tests that new inmates must be subjected to before they are admitted.
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