Quarantine, isolation or limitation on movements within detention facilities In view of the risk of COVID-19 spreading in prisons, there have been some cases where prison authorities have quarantined wings or whole facilities, affecting people detained and members of staff alike. Putting people in isolation and limiting movement within prisons are also recommended by some authorities where there are known cases of COVID-19. In England, one prison wing was quarantined after panic when one prisoner fell ill and advice issued to prisons says ‘says inmates who had contact with a known coronavirus patient should be isolated in single accommodation’. In Canada, nearly 160 people at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre are under quarantine after one detainee said he had previously come into contact with someone with COVID-19. Six of the 13 living areas at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, affecting 158 people, have been quarantined.11 Quarantines can also be imposed upon the arrival of new people sentenced to prison. In the southern state of Kerala in India, where there have been 14 cases, the prisons decided to quarantine new prisoners arriving. In New Zealand, quarantine measures were taken at the Waikeria Prison. They were however lifted as soon as the medical test results for COVDI-19 were negative.12 people, any involuntary separation from the general prison population must be subject to authorisation by the law. In some cases quarantine or isolation may constitute solitary confinement (defined by the UN Nelson Mandela Rules as confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact).13 The Rules require that solitary confinement only be in exceptional cases as a last resort, for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review, and only pursuant to the authorisation by a competent authority. Where isolation is necessary it therefore follows that authorities should put in place a regime so people can benefit from meaningful human contact. They should have full access to means of contacting the outside world, and be able to participate in rehabilitation programmes and socialise with other people – as far as possible. Any measures imposed by prison authorities, albeit at a time of emergency, need to recognise that isolation can exacerbate anxiety and insecurity for people in prisons leading to violence and impact mental health of detainees. Therefore, blanket measures should be avoided, or if imposed only for the time required to undertake a more individualised and independent medical assessment. While quarantine or isolation of individual(s) may be legitimate to protect the health of ‘Coronavirus: Inmates at Saskatoon jail under quarantine after possible link to COVID-19’, 11 March 2020, available at https://globalnews.ca/news/6662877/coronavirusinmate-saskatoon/. 12 ‘Coronavirus: Waikeria Prison cleared of probable threat’, 12 March 2020, available at 11 https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/12 0241017/coronavirus-precautionary-measures-stopwaikeria-prison-visits. 13 See OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Penal Reform International, Guidance Document on the UN Nelson Mandela Rules, 2018. Page 7 of 13 www.penalreform.org