Covid prison update

Thank you so far for accommodating conditions, says prisons’ boss

As 2020 comes to an end it seems hard to believe that we are still unfortunately living with such changes to our lives to protect one another from COVID-19. I know that this has been a difficult year for so many residents and that the restrictions in place have gone on for much longer than any of us would have wanted. Since our initial lockdown in March we have learned and continue to learn valuable lessons from your feedback, the feedback from staff and other organisations such as Clinks or the prison inspectors. We have used this to create our winter regimes that continue to manage the spread of the virus. We are now testing staff in all prisons and, at the time of writing this, have rolled-out reception testing in 42 prisons – with another 31 due to begin reception testing before Christmas. 

We are also piloting different types of testing in other prisons so that we can provide you with the right support if you have the illness. We have introduced face masks for staff and face coverings for you to wear at the times it is harder to keep apart from other people. We will carry on with the extra accommodation we have and make sure anyone arriving in a new prison is able to isolate before coming onto the wings and mixing.

We know how important it is to support the wellbeing of everyone across the estate. Our winter regime allows prisons to provide more activities when and where it is safe to do so. Your governor will have spoken to you about what that means for your prison because this will depend on whether you have had any outbreaks or not. 

We have provided additional free PIN credit, Purple Visits video calling, free television and food packs. There is also plenty being done in each of your prisons which will reflect what your community needs. It will be different depending on what type of prison you are in, whether you are in England and Wales, and whether you have had outbreaks or not. 

I am writing this before Christmas but I know you will be reading this after that point. I know Christmas would have been difficult for you all and I hope some of the measures we were able to put in place helped to alleviate that, particularly the family support.

I did see a lot of really innovative work being done in the run-up to Christmas, such as Christmas card competitions or work with Storybook Dads – along with a lot of charity fundraising that you did. I was really proud of what you were able to achieve, for yourself and others, despite the difficult circumstances. 

It is not clear what 2021 will look like but we know we cannot expect changes overnight and that we will need to continue to live like this for some time. Thank you for the patience and resolve you have shown and for everything you have done to support each other during the last year. I would ask you to take that forward into 2021 so we can all work towards our recovery from coronavirus together.