This archive report was first published on 12 May 2020.
Published on May 12, 2020, the Kenyan government has taken measures to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country's prisons.
Forty-two inmates at the Industrial Area Prison in Nairobi have been quarantined after coming into contact with two other remandees who tested positive for Covid-19.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i informed the Senate Ad hoc Committee on Covid-19 that the government is working to upscale the capacity of isolation centres in prisons from 500 beds to 1,000 beds.
"Only two have tested positive and we immediately moved them to an isolation facility, and then we removed everyone else who was with them and isolated them as we wait for the second testing," Matiang'i said.
The government has also released 7,000 inmates and petty offenders to decongest the country's prisons and correctional facilities, reducing the prison population from 54,000.
CS Matiang'i assured the Senators that the remaining 47,000 inmates are in good health and receiving adequate food and medical care.
Mass testing in prisons is set to be conducted to determine the spread of the pandemic within these facilities and put in place necessary measures to protect the inmates.
