Before that happens, the prisoners must first be quarantined for five days, reports RTV North. This means that they are not allowed to follow a day program and for the most part remain in prison. Showering is also not possible. However, each day is aired in small groups.
Today, four of the six departments of the PI are still in quarantine. The other two departments have already been quarantined and all detainees tested. Convicts who do not have corona can again participate in an adapted day program.
PI employees: ‘Many infections’ among staff
Yesterday it came out that prisoners of three departments in the PI Ter Apel are in quarantine. At that time, 37 corona infections had been detected. Two of those departments are already out of quarantine.
Prison guards and other PI staff have also been infected or have been forced to quarantine at home because they have been in close contact with infected persons. The spokesperson cannot say how many employees are involved because employees do not have to state why they call in sick.
Employees of the PI inform RTV Noord that it concerns ‘a lot of infections among the staff’.
Internal corona guidelines
It is not the first time that there are many corona infections in Ter Apel prison. About a year ago, prisoners also faced similar measures. Then a third of all prisoners turned out to be infected with corona.
The then minister of legal protection, Sander Dekker, later concluded that the prison board had not adhered to internal corona guidelines. ‘The director has been asked for more sharpness on this point,’ Dekker wrote to the House of Representatives at the time.
Following the outbreak of a year ago, the prison board decided to work in a so-called compartmentalized manner. This means that prisoners only do activities with prisoners from the same group. In principle, they will not encounter detainees from other departments.