COVID-19 AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CLOSED INSTITUTIONS
if not suspended, access to therapies and social service. There were cases
where persons concerned received compensations, such as the possibility
to watch television or to smoke.
In Austria and Germany, access to therapies has been restricted due to COVID-19. Mainly, group therapies were
suspended or held in smaller groups.
While the reduced number of persons
per group enabled group therapies, it
also resulted in a decreased frequency of and variety in such therapies. In
Austria and Germany, in most cases,
individual therapy sessions continued
to take place with protective measures
such as plexiglass, video calls and/or face masks. Generally, the restrictions on therapies were relaxed gradually after the first wave of COVID-19.
In Italy, therapies never stopped in REMs and are hardly available also
without pandemic in regular prisons.
PROMISING PR AC TICE
In Austria, to reduce the risk of
large-scale transmissions, in some
institutions, persons concerned
were separated into groups living
in the same units. Within these units
they did not have to wear masks (as
considered as one household) and
could conduct activities together
(e.g., sports, board games).
In terms of leisure time activities, in PROMISING PR AC TICE
some Austrian facilities yard exer- Good practice from Lombardy: The
cise, sports and walks were stopped vaccination campaign was run prisentirely or reduced significantly to on by prison, considering the entire
a maximum of one hour a day. In prison community. Everyone who enother institutions the hours for yard ters for any reason was entitled to the
exercise were extended to up to six vaccine, without distinction: prisonhours a day. The offer of out- and ers and administrators, penitentiary
indoor activities was sometimes police and volunteers. The aim was
upheld by reducing the number of to create pockets of immunity within
participants or wearing masks. In closed environments.
Germany, most of the activities had
to take place in the limited space of the ward. Gyms and cultural/social
centres were closed to avoid joining persons concerned from different
wards. In contrast, there were no relevant restrictions to indoor leisure
time activities in Italy when they did not require external staff.
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