The power struggle: COVID in prisons聽聽
Tuesday 26 January 2021 16:45, UK
There have been outbreaks聽of COVID-19聽in聽more than聽half聽of聽UK聽prisons and many are running on skeleton staff.聽The pandemic has forced the prison聽estate聽to move to 'an exceptional delivery mode'.聽聽
One prisoner claimed they were kept in their cells for more than 23 hours a day with limited access to hygiene facilities, forcing them to dispose of human waste in plastic bags and bottles.
There are signs that prisons could be epicentres for infection with small, enclosed areas and a lack of social distancing with staff potentially bringing the virus in and out.
In this episode of the Sky News Daily podcast, host Noel Phillips speaks to Juliet Lyon, chair of the government's independent panel on deaths in custody, Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association, Lucy Martindale, youth worker and anti-violence campaigner and John Drake, an ex-inmate at HMP Coldingley Prison.
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