Kenya Prisons boss promises to keep correctional centres safe from Covid-19 – VIDEO
The Kenya Prisons Service has put in place adequate measures to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19 in the 129 prisons countrywide, Commissioner General Wycliffe Ongalo said on Friday.
The correctional centres have stopped inter-prisons transfer of inmates and wardens to decimate chances of Coronavirus hit.
Ongalo said they have ensured sanitization is upheld and compliance with the Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation recommendations to protect prisoners, warders and their families from the disease.
He said there has not been a single confirmed case of Covid-19 in the prisons.
Other measures include stopping of prisons visits and controlled admission of new inmates.
QUARANTINED
A new remandee from courts has to be quarantined at police stations for the mandatory 14 days and additional seven days, tested for Covid-19 to confirm they are negative before they are admitted in prison facilities.
“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 the facilities – our staff and inmates are safe,” Ongalo said.
He spoke at the prisons headquarters where he received sanitation and personal protective equipment worth more than Sh 3 million from the Kenya Red Cross Society.
Ongalo said the items will be distributed rationally to all the prisons and appealed for more well-wishers to partner with the institution to help keep the inmates safe.