09 Dec 2020

Botswana Prison Services (BPS) is working round the clock to curb the spread of COVID-19 in prisons.

BPS Commissioner, Colonel Silas Motlalekgosi said in an interview after addressing the organisation’s staff and touring the prison facilities in Selebi Phikwe that BPS had established two quarantine centres in Francistown and Lobatse, where convicted prisoners were sent for quarantine before being admitted to prison.

He said so far the BPS had not registered any COVID-19 positive case in all the prisons across the country, adding that positive cases had only been registered in quarantine centres.

Col Motlalekgosi said BPS was doing so to ensure safety and security of the prison facilities as well as proper treatment of inmates.

He further said prisoners were also sent to quarantine centres for screening and isolation before being released to prevent any possible infections to their respective families after release.

Currently, Col Motlalekgosi said, BPS had a total  of 228 people in both quarantine centres, adding that the numbers were escalating, thus calling for the establishment of alternative COVID-19 quarantine centres.

“COVID-19 is causing us logistical nightmares because we have shortage of medical staff. In addition to that we have started experiencing high fuel costs because of the distance covered to transport prisoners to and from quarantine centres,” he said.

To address this problem, he said BPS was considering to recruit retired BPS nursing staff to augment its medical staff.

In addition, he said the BPS had minimised visits to prisoners and stopped to receive toiletries and food coming from outside for inmates on civil imprisonment.  “We do not want to take chances,” noted Col Motlalekgosi.

He said Selebi Phikwe prison, like other prisons, was of communal living, therefore the BPS could not afford to have COVID-19 positive cases within it.

The BPS commissioner said inmates were encouraged to comply with COVID-19 protocols by wearing masks at all times, washing hands regularly and social distancing.

Meanwhile, in his address to the inmates earlier, Col Motlalekgosi encouraged them to work harmoniously with prison officers.

He assured inmates that no prisoner would be allowed to serve their sentence in Selebi Phikwe prison without having gone through mandatory quarantine.

The BPS commissioner also urged convicts to report to prison staff whenever they felt ill so that they got medical attention immediately.

He also sensitised detainees on gender based violence (GBV) reminding them that this country had registered many such cases, the majority of whose perpetrators were men.

Col Motlalekgosi urged inmates to protect women and children against GBV when the time comes for them to be re-united with their respective families.

He also advised them to manage their temper or walk away if the situation got out of hand to avoid making prison their permanent residence by committing offences repeatedly. Ends