Maldives Correctional Services begins identifying high-risk prisoners
A number of officers, employees and detainees at prisons run under the Maldives Correctional Services have tested positive for Covid-19.
Random sampling teams active at the Asseyri Prison
Maldives Correctional Services have revealed that they have begun efforts to identify high-risk prisoners in detainment across the country due to the spread of Covid-19 in Maldivian prisons.
Speaking to Raajje MV about the issue, Media Official for the Maldives Correctional Services Aminath Yusreen stated that efforts had been initiated in all prisons in Maldives to determine high-risk prisoners based on their health in association with doctors and healthcare professionals. Yusreen added that they were expected to finish screening all prisoners within the week despite difficulties presented due to the pandemic.
Yusreen went on to detail that those prisoners who were considered a threat to society would not be released from detention even if they presented a higher risk of health complications from Covid-19. As such, Yusreen clarified that a prisoner's security risk level and the type of sentence they are serving would be taken into consideration in screening prisoners. In addition to this, Yusreen remarked that while some prisoners would be temporarily transferred to house arrest, incarcerated persons would not be released from prison without approval of their guardian.
While positive cases of Covid-19 and contacts of positive cases have been identified from all prison complexes overseen by the Maldives Correctional Services, a total of 33 officers and employees of prisons have tested positive for Covid-19. 105 persons were in quarantine as per the latest update, with 20 prisoners having tested positive for Covid-19, and an additional 22 prisoners placed in quarantine due to exposure to the virus.
Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu recently announced that prisoners at a high-risk of complications from Covid-19 will be transferred to house arrest. The Commissioner of Prisons had stated that the decision to transfer prisoners to house arrest had been made as a precautionary measure to control the spread of Covid-19 in Maldivian prisons. While former president Abdulla Yaameen Abdul Gayyoom was transferred to house arrest due to the spread of Covid-19 in Maafushi Prison, a number of people had called out for the same privilege to be afforded to other high-risk prisoners detained in prisons across Maldives.
