HMP Management Implements Additional Measures To Safeguard Health Of Personnel And Residents
The management of Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) moved swiftly to implement measures to protect the health of personnel and residents after members of staff and inmates tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The HMP recorded its first confirmed case on June 10, after the return of a resident’s test result. The following day, the test results for two (2) members of staff were positive as well.
Commissioner of Corrections Terrance James wants to assure the public that they are doing everything they can to safeguard the health of all concerned. He has been working closely with the National COVID-19 Task Force and has been receiving advice from the Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health on the steps to take to contain the situation. Other staff members were identified, placed in quarantine and tested. Thankfully, their results so far have been negative. An isolation area has also been established inside the prison where affected residents have been placed. At the moment, no items are being accepted into the Prison for residents, according to the Commissioner of Corrections.
“The affected persons are all in a stable condition. The residents in isolation are receiving good care and we have upgraded their intake of supplements. The prison doctor makes regular checks on them and any other inmate who has health-related complaints. I would provide the doctor with regular updates as well,” Commissioner of Corrections James said.
Authorities in the Ministry of Health have been testing both personnel and residents. Testing continued up to Tuesday, June 15, when members of the National COVID-19 Task Force and representatives from the Ministry of Health visited the Prison. While testing has not yet been completed, more than half of the staff and just about half of the residents have been swabbed. As of Wednesday, June 16, 2021, a total of eleven (11) residents and two (2) members of staff had positive results returned for COVID-19.