The Nigeria Correctional Service, Edo Command, says it has provided a 100-bed capacity isolation centre as a proactive measure in the eventuality of a coronavirus outbreak among the inmates.
Mr Joseph Usendiah, the state Controller of Corrections, disclosed this on Tuesday in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin.
Usendiah disclosed that the isolation centre was located at the Oko correctional centre in Benin.
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He said the measure was in compliance with the Controller General of Corrections, Ja’Afaru Ahmed’s directive for all commands to put measures on ground to curtail the spread of the coronavirus among inmates.
He, however, appealed to the Edo State Government to assist the command in equipping the isolation centre.
The Controller added that the command had put in place a special team to monitor the compliance level and ensure the enforcement of all directives towards curtailing the spread of COVID-19 at the various facilities in the state.
He explained that members were drawn from among the medical and general duty officers.
He said that though no case of COVID-19 had been reported among either the staff or inmates in the command, the command had taken proactive measure yo mitigate against the spread of COVID-19 within its facilities.
Usendiah noted that the command had consequently written to the Chief Judge of the state to ensure that all new inmates were sent to the Oko correctional facility for proper monitoring.
He added that further steps had been taken to ensure that COVID-19 was not exported into the command.
“Towards achieving this, the medical team of the command has commenced the screening of both staff and inmates of the command.
“We have also commenced implementing the suspension order of visits to inmates as directed by the Controller General of Corrections.
“Similarly, we do not allow new inmates into our facilities with their initial clothing, we clean them thoroughly, disinfect them, clothe them and isolate them for some time before they join others”, he explained.
He said the command had also raised all sanitary, health and hygiene standard to include regular fumigation of facilities, adding that the measures were all geared towards combating the coronavirus.