You are here
Locking Ebola out of Sierra Leone jails
Tue, 2014-12-02 19:45 — mike kraftIRIN Dec. 1, 2014
DAKAR--It is next to impossible to avoid physical contact in an overcrowded prison. In Sierra Leone, heavily congested jails and a worsening Ebola outbreak make a potentially lethal combination. So how do you keep inmates safe?
Decongesting prisons in Sierra Leone to lower Ebola threat.Photo: Hannah McNeish/IRIN
Some of the safeguards against the virus are: A 21-day quarantine for fresh detainees before joining the old timers; training prison health workers and inmate leaders on Ebola prevention; and providing health and safety education and equipment.
Such measures, and others, have so far helped keep the virus out of Sierra Leone’s 17 prisons and three juvenile offenders’ homes, said Mambu Feika, head of NGO Prison Watch Sierra Leone (PWSL), which is spearheading a three-month programme to prevent Ebola transmission in prisons.
See full story
Recent Comments