Prison officers demand extra Covid measures
PRISON officers have this week been demanding extra measures to protect themselves against the coronavirus following an outbreak of cases in the overcrowded Central Prison.
Over 100 convicted and remand prisoners and at least eight guards have tested positive for Covid-19 since last week, according to the head of the Cyprus Turkish Civil Servants Trade Union (KTAMS), Güven Bengihan.
On Tuesday a number of prison officers stopped working and held a protest at the Central Prison, claiming they are being put at risk.
“We are all in contact [with positive cases], we are afraid to go home,” they said, and asked for a “permanent” nurse to be assigned to the prison and for a hotel to be arranged for the prison officers who are contacts.
The “strike” prompted Interior Minister Kutlu Evren to speak to the prison officers, who suspended their action on Tuesday after Mr Evren promised that “all the problems” would be resolved.
“The Central Prison has been under very serious oversight and supervision for a long time but for an unknown reason, Covid-19 found its way into the prison,” he said.
“The first Covid-19 case detected in the prison was among the detainees and they passed it on to the guards.”
Mr Evren said that it could take a month for the coronavirus outbreak in the prison to subside.
Mr Bengihan said that prisoners who tested positive for coronavirus were initially sent to the new prison complex in Haspolat, which has yet to be officially opened, but they were then transferred to a “pandemic hotel” because of a water problem in the new prison.
“The new prison couldn’t even hold 80 people,” he said. “From the first day, the water pumps malfunctioned and there were problems with the level switches in the water tanks . . . We are worried as to whether or not the new prison complies with the specifications.”
Mr Bengihan noted that Mr Evren and Health Ministry “Contact Follow-Up Team” manager Şebnem Benar came to meet with the prison officers at the prison, and that their concerns were discussed and an “agreement was reached for a solution”.
“Our prison officers want to know how safety can be ensured in terms of entry and exit from the wings and how precautions can be taken,” he said.
“They are waiting for a hotel to be arranged for the prison officers who don’t want to go home because they have been in contact.
“A permanent nurse in the prison has also been requested because currently the prison officers are providing health services in the prison.
“The Interior Ministry said that it will provide the necessary assistance regarding all these matters.”
Mr Bengihan said that the prison officers will “resume the protest if the promises made are not fulfilled”, a view echoed by the Cyprus Turkish Prison Officers Union president İnan Özgür Edebali.
“Prison officers aren’t healthcare workers but they also take care of [Covid-19] positive prisoners,” Mr Edebali said. “We are only responsible for the security of the prison but we do everything . . . Healthcare teams are dealing with positive cases on the outside, but we deal with positive inmates and detainees in prison. This isn’t our job.
“We don’t have the training or knowledge on this subject. We don’t know how to protect ourselves like healthcare workers . . . That’s why we now want a nurse to work in the prison.”
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Bengihan said that “90 per cent of the promises made” by the Interior Ministry have been kept and that the “only problem is assigning a nurse, but this problem will be solved soon”.
On Thursday it was reported that the Central Prison had been put into lockdown and that police cells were full to capacity, meaning that criminal court hearings were postponed.