This archive report was first published on 11 May 2020.
On May 11, 2020, Kenya's Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi addressed the Senate Ad hoc Committee on COVID-19, providing an update on the country's prisons COVID-19 response.
According to Matiangi, 42 inmates at Industrial Area Remand Prison have been isolated after coming into contact with two other remandees who tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
As part of the government's efforts to curb the spread of the pandemic, Matiangi confirmed that the capacity of isolation centres in prisons is being upscaled from 500 beds to 1,000 beds.
“Only two who tested positive and we immediately removed them to an Isolation facility, and then we removed everyone else who was with them and isolated them to somewhere for a second testing so that they can be allowed to mix with others. I can confirm to you that the entirety of the inmate population in the country are all fine and healthy and are getting their food and the medical department is very active,” he stated.
Notably, the government has released some 7,000 remandees and petty offenders, reducing the prison population from 54,000. Matiangi assured the Senators that the over 47,000 inmates are in good health.
Furthermore, 219 prison staffers have been tested since the exercise began last week, with 144 officers tested in Nairobi, 27 in Rift Valley, 12 in Coast region, 42 in Nyanza, and 8 in Western. None have been tested in North Eastern and Eastern provinces.
Additionally, 14 officers who were away on leave or on studies abroad when Kenya reported its first case on March 13, were ordered to go into 14-day quarantine before reporting to their workstations.
