NAIROBI, Kenya, May 11– Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi on Monday said 42 inmates at Industrial Area Remand Prison have been isolated having come into contact with two other remandees who tested positive for COVID-19 last week.
Matiangi told the Senate Ad hoc Committee on COVID-19 this as he confirmed that the government is working to upscale the capacity of the isolation centres in prison from the current 500 beds to 1,000 beds.
“Only two who tested positive and we immediately removed them to an Isolation facility, and then we removed everyone else who was with them and isolated them to somewhere for a second testing so that they can be allowed to mix with others. I can confirm to you that the entirety of the inmate population in the country are all fine and healthy and are getting their food and the medical department is very active,” he stated.
The CS said the population in the prisons has gone down from 54,000 after the government released some 7,000 remandees and petty offenders as a measure to curb the spread of the deadly pandemic by decongesting the country’s prisons and correctional facilities.
He assured the Senators that the over 47,000 inmates are in good health.
The Interior CS further stated 219 prison staffers have so far been tested since the exercise began last week.
In Nairobi area 144 officers have so far been tested while in Rift Valley 27 and Coast region 12, Nyanza 42 and western 8. None have been tested in North Eastern and Eastern provinces.
He further stated that some 14 officers who were away on leave or on studies broad when Kenya reported its first case on March 13, were ordered to go into 14-day quarantine before reporting to their workstations.
