©ICRC Prison staff and health-care professionals working in prisons should be acknowledged as a workforce whose functions are essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and who must receive the necessary education, equipment and support. Tailored awareness-raising for prisoners and transparent communication channels will be equally important to prepare a population already subject to restrictive settings for additional procedures which may be required to protect their health as well as the health of their families and communities. COVID-19 will also require countries to find additional ways to relieve the expected pressure on prison systems. Many prisons suffer from overcrowding and long-standing neglect and are therefore ill-prepared to even initiate basic prevention and control measures associated with a new health pandemic in terms of overall infrastructure, equipment and human resources. Alternatives to imprisonment “In order to provide greater flexibility consistent with the nature and gravity of the offence, with the personality and background of the offender and with the protection of society and to avoid unnecessary use of imprisonment, the criminal justice system should provide a wide range of non-custodial measures, from pre-trial to postsentencing dispositions.“ The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) Reassessing the resort to imprisonment in general and identifying categories of prisoners which are at particular risk of being affected by the COVID-19 disease will be essential to curb the continuing inflow of prisoners and to accelerate the release of suitable categories of prisoners. For many countries, reducing the prison population may even constitute a precondition for introducing meaningful prevention and control measures. Judges and magistrates play a key role in this regard and will need to make decisions to remand or sentence an individual subject to enhanced scrutiny in light of the virus. Alternatives to pretrial detention and the commutation or temporary suspension of certain sentences will be valuable instruments to reduce new admissions to prisons. This will be particularly relevant in the case of minor offences, including those of a non-violent and non-sexual nature. Finland, for example, has already introduced measures to postpone the enforcement of sentences up to six months, and of fine-conversion sentences, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in prisons. Release mechanisms will be particularly relevant for prisoners for whom COVID-19 poses particular risks – such as the elderly and prisoners affected by chronic diseases or other health conditions – and other selected categories of prisoners, including pregnant women, women with dependent children, prisoners approaching the end of their sentence and those who have been sentenced for minor crimes. Compassionate, conditional or early release schemes – as well as pardons or amnesties for carefully selected categories of prisoners whose release would not compromise public safety – should be considered in this context. In Ethiopia, the President granted pardon to more than 4,000 prisoners in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, focusing on those with a maximum sentence of three years and those approaching their release. In the United States, at least four states have decided to release 4 www.unodc.org