Concerns amid rising Covid-19 cases at St Albans prison

Prisons are overcrowded and understaffed and the department of correctional services is not acting in the best interest of officials amid increasing Covid-19 infections among prisoners and prison staff.

These were claims made by the country’s biggest prison workers’ union earlier this week. The regional management of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) painted a dire picture of conditions at St Albans prison in Port Elizabeth.

To date, 144 prison officials have died from Covid-19 across the country — 25 of them in the Eastern Cape.

Avoiding infections and maintaining social distancing at St Albans prison is increasingly difficult as the facility’s inmate capacity stands at 140%.

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