WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2020) The Department of Justice announced that a series of remote inspections are underway at US Federal prisons to gauge compliance with recommended steps to prevent novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections among inmates and staff, the Inspector General (OIG) said in a notice on Wednesday.
"These inspections will assess whether BOP [Bureau of Prisons]-managed institutions, contract institutions, and contract Residential Reentry Centers are complying with available guidance and best practices regarding preventing, managing, and containing potential COVID-19 outbreaks in correctional and residential reentry settings," the notice said.
The OIG's objectives include providing information to assist the Bureau of Prisons in mitigating the health risks arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the notice added.
The inspections come amid growing calls for the transfer of non-violent inmates to monitored home detention for the remainder of the pandemic, given the ease with which the disease can spread within prisons and the potential impact in an environment in which many inmates are elderly with underlying health conditions that make contracting COVID-19 especially dangerous.
The death of an inmate at Butler Correctional Complex in the state of North Carolina over the weekend prompted media reports that 60 inmates and 23 staff had tested positive for the virus at the facility - the highest number of cases of any federal prison in the United States.
