This archive report was first published on 20 April 2020.
On April 17, 2020, Commissioner General Wycliffe Ongalo of the Kenya Prisons Service announced that the institution had taken adequate measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its 129 prisons nationwide.
As part of these measures, the correctional facilities have stopped inter-prison transfers of inmates and wardens to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The Kenya Prisons Service has also ensured that sanitization is upheld and that all recommendations from the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation are being complied with to protect prisoners, warders, and their families from the disease.
According to Ongalo, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the prisons, thanks to these measures.
Other precautions include the suspension of prison visits and the controlled admission of new inmates.
Additionally, new remandees from courts are required to be quarantined at police stations for 14 days and an additional 7 days before being admitted into prison facilities, and they must test negative for COVID-19 before admission.
"I want to assure all that we have done what we can to keep this pandemic out of our facilities and ensure those in such facilities - our staff and inmates are safe," Ongalo said during a visit to the prisons headquarters where he received sanitation and personal protective equipment worth over Sh 3 million from the Kenya Red Cross Society.
