BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Her Majesty’s Prison in St. Kitts and Nevis has in place strict measures and protocols to protect staff and inmates from contracting the COVID-19 virus. The measures and protocols have been in place since March 22.
“There are prisons in the Caribbean in countries such as Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic that have seen contamination with the COVID-19 virus within their walls,” explained Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Prison in St. Kitts and Nevis, Terrance James.
“In terms of protocols we have the same protocols that have been implemented since March,” said James. He said the protocols for mask-wearing and sanitization of hands for staff entering the prison are in place and must be strictly adhered to.
“We also have our thermal thermometer,” said James.” An officer check the temperature of everyone entering the prison to ensure no one entering the prisons has an elevated temperature.”
“We also have three cells which we call quarantine or segregated cells that when inmates come into the prison for the first time,” explained James. “We keep them in the area and have the prison doctor check them. We keep them in that area for 14 days as our quarantine area before they go into the general population. This is part of our prison protocol so we can maintain our prison to be as sterile as we can for the time being.”
James said that he and his staff will continue to maintain the protocols until the pandemic ceases to exist in order to keep the prison population safe.
