(CMR) Her Majesty's Cayman Islands Prison Service (HMCIPS) has confirmed 20 positive COVID-19 inmate cases and that they are “cohorting” on one wing together. They also dispelled the rumor that any inmates are seriously sick and on oxygen. The responses were received after CMR reached out last week following numerous complaints from both inmates and their family members.
Several prison inmates and their family members indicated they were feeling anxious about a lack of communication about the safety protocols in place for the prison as the community spread of the virus continued across the Cayman Islands. CMR announced some weeks ago that a number of prison officers had tested positive.
Ten prison officers have also tested positive along with 2 support team members in the administration and facilities divisions. At this time all employees are in isolation in accordance with Public Health protocols.
In addition, the prison is finalizing a new staff screening protocol which would entail utilizing lateral flow testing (LFT) of staff as a screening mechanism on entry to the prison. All HMCIPS will be required to complete an LFT at least twice per week. The prison director noted that:
“In practice, we are screening all staff on entry, this is to reflect the changed risk profile across our communities.”
Prior to this, PCR screening of staff and prisoners was conducted monthly but eventually tapered off once community spread was believed to have disappeared from the Cayman Islands.
Presently, the prison does not mandate COVID-19 vaccination. The prison does not have any precise details on vaccination numbers but they are estimated that around 70% of employees are believed to be vaccinated with a likely 50-60% vaccination rate for incarcerated persons. They admitted that most new admissions to the prison are unvaccinated individuals.
The prison admitted the difficulty of isolating individuals in the prison environment. As a compromise, they have created a “cohort” environment for all positive inmates.
Cohorting is the process where the prison identifies a group of rooms in a single area and isolates infected persons together in that area, effectively creating a bubble. Those cases are then monitored by medical staff and be PCR tested in accordance with Public Health advice/practice. They will not be released from the cohort area until they test negative and have been assessed by medical staff.
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