Among the dilemmas that quickly gained attention in countries across the globe as COVID-19 took hold was how to manage prisons and safeguard inmates during the pandemic. Held in conditions where social distancing is effectively impossible and other safeguards are severely lacking, inmates—and their guards—are acutely vulnerable to the spread of the disease, which can impact entire prisons as well as nearby communities.
Calls to protect prisoners amidst dire warnings of spiralling death rates were echoed in countries across the world: In the US, ACLU starkly warned that the country’s mass incarceration could lead to as many as 100,000 additional deaths—both behind jail walls, and within surrounding communities. In Belarus, where authorities—infamous for their slow response to the virus—have failed to take steps to release prisoners, petitions have warned of penitentiary establishments turning into “mass graves.”
Although some countries such as El Salvador have notoriously refused to release prisoners, cramming inmates together in appalling conditions, many have rapidly adopted precautions and downsized their prison populations. In mid-March, Iran announced the temporary release of some 85,000 inmates. Turkey soon followed suit, passing legislation to allow tens of thousands of prisoners to be released.
