120 Prisoners in 4 Prisons Diagnosed with Covid-19, Says Justice Minister

* Source & Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül has made a statement after a coordination meeting regarding the measures to be taken against Covid-19 in judicial services. Gül has announced that 120 arrestees and convicts from 4 separate prisons have been diagnosed with the virus.

Addressing the reporters following the meeting today (April 28), Minister Gül has said, "For us, the real heroes of this period are wardens" and added:

"In a period when everyone is at home with their families, they are away from their families. Since April 1, our tens of thousands of wardens in our 440 penal institutions have made great efforts away from their homes, either on their shifts and duties or in quarantine."

Underlining that they will err on the side of caution, Minister Gül has indicated that the newcomers are examined before entering the penal institution and the ones who show the symptoms of the disease are referred to hospitals without being admitted into the institution.

Gül has added that even when new prisoners do not show any symptoms of the disease, they are still isolated in a separate place for 14 days.

'No prisoners in intensive care'

Sharing information about the cleaning and disinfection of prisons, Minister Gül has stated that 7 million square meter open and closed space is disinfected regularly and every arrestee and convict is given cleaning and hygiene products regularly and free of charge.

Concluding his remarks, Gül has stressed that their aim is to cancel out the outside world's contact with prisons and added the following:

"As of today, 120 arrestees and convicts from 4 separate penal institutions have been diagnosed with Covid-19. All of them have been in treatment at hospitals. While there are no arrestees or convicts in intensive care unit, their general state of health is good. We are following this process closely in close cooperation with our Ministry of Health." (AÖ/SD)