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Southeast Asia Speeds Up Prison Releases to Stave Off Coronavirus

Zsombor Peter

   KUALA LUMPUR - Southeast Asian nations are joining a growing list of
   countries around the world rushing to release prisoners from
   overcrowded jails in hopes of warding off new outbreaks of COVID-19,
   though some are hesitating.

   With some of the most congested prison systems in the world, the region
   has no time to lose, rights groups and health experts say.

   "It is a disaster waiting to happen," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia
   director for Human Rights Watch.

   "If you have an outbreak, those facilities are going to be quickly
   overwhelmed. And those are not facilities that are prepared to handle
   seriously sick inmates."

   Rights groups and health experts alike say the crowded cells and
   threadbare medical wards of many prisons in the region would make ideal
   breeding grounds for the highly contagious coronavirus. Many of those
   groups have joined UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle
   Bachelet in calling on countries to release their most at-risk inmates
   -- namely the sick and elderly -- to cut the odds of an outbreak. They
   also suggest prioritizing prisoners nearing the end of their sentences
   and those convicted or charged with non-violent crimes.

   "When you have lack of ventilation, when you have lack of access to
   sanitary conditions, when you have lack of access to hygiene materials,
   the shower is limited per detainee per week due to the lack of access
   to clean water ... this increases the risk of people actually acquiring
   more diseases than would be in the general public. In addition to that
   you have the very limited containment spaces," said Dr. Ziad Tohme,
   health in detention adviser for the International Committee of the Red
   Cross in the Asia Pacific region.

   Tohme said he has seen rates of tuberculosis, another contagious
   infection that can affect the respiratory system, up to 100 times
   higher in some prisons in the region than in the general population.

   "SoI couldn't even start to image how COVID can spread in such context,
   in such places of detention," he said.

   Countries around the world have caught on to the risks and started
   releasing some prisoners to ease the congestion in their jails, from
   Columbia to India and the U.S.

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