States must put in place plans allowing for emergency releases In view of reducing risks associated to COVID-19, authorities should urgently review the detention of individuals on remand. Cash bail systems should be lifted, to ensure that pre-trial detention is not excessively imposed. Individuals most at-risk, in particular older persons and individuals with mental and underlying physical health issues, should be immediately considered for release, to avoid the serious consequences in case COVID-19 would spread in a prison and also to free up essential healthcare services. Prison sentences for Coronavirus-related offences There have been many reports that prison sentences would be handed out to people who failed to obey the various measures imposed in response to COVID-19 – most notably in countries who traditionally take hard approaches to crime. In Russia, authorities in Moscow threatened prison terms of up to five years for people who were not self-isolating for 14 days after visiting one of the listed countries most affected. In Bahrain, one case on these grounds is attracting a three-month prison sentence and a fine. Singapore and Hong Kong have announced they are charging people who are accused of misleading authorities and breaking travel restrictions, and Iranian authorities are prioritizing prosecuting those who are believed to be hoarding medical supplies. South Korea is threatening prison time for possible coronavirus patients that break quarantine. Legislation passed through an accelerated procedure by the National Assembly foresees a punishment of up to a year in prison or up to a 10 million won (approximatively €8,000) in fine for suspected patients who deliberately break quarantine. In Israel, individuals caught See the website of the Israeli Ministry of Health dedicated to Israel’s response to Covidis-19, available at https://govextra.gov.il/ministry-ofhealth/corona/corona-virus-en/. 22 violating a mandatory home quarantine for travellers who have recently visited East Asia could face a prison sentence of up to seven years. The Ministry of Health put in place a online system for allowing any person to denounce somebody presumed of violating such an imposed quarantine.22 At times of emergency, the recourse to denunciation systems presents a high risk of abuse against minorities and other marginalised groups, and generally opens the door to abuses and might lead to health and security services being diverted from their primary missions. While the need to prevent state-imposed quarantines from being broken is undisputed, the answer does not come from threatening or imposing long sentences. As underlined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, quarantine measures can have dire consequences for people who are already barely surviving economically: ‘[such preventive measures] may result in lost pay or a lost job, with farranging consequences for people's 23 livelihoods and lives’. Criminalising individuals for violating quarantine and other measures aiming to protect society from the spread of COVID-19 ‘Coronavirus: Human rights need to be front and centre in response, says Bachelet’, 6 March 2020, available at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayN ews.aspx?NewsID=25668&LangID=E. 23 Page 12 of 13 www.penalreform.org