There are currently 25 active Covid-19 cases within the prison system.

This includes 17 prison officers and 8 inmates.

Speaking in the Senate on Tuesday, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said the officers are in home isolation, while the Covid positive inmates are being kept in separate facilities at the Eastern Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre.

They are managed by officers who are outfitted with the appropriate PPE wear.

Additionally, 82 prison officers are presently under quarantine order. 

Minister Hinds, who assumed leadership of the National Security Ministry just over one week ago, said the present reality in the prison system was a “major advance and improvement” when compared to last year. 

“We had as much as 80 plus inmates and 250 officers infected. The Prison Service continues to respond sensibly to this ongoing threat, by continuing the separation, as I have explained it, at the ECRC to contain further spread,” Minister Hinds said.