The real situation with coronavirus infection in correctional colonies, pre-trial detention centers and social permanent establishments of Kyrgyzstan differs significantly from the officially presented statistical data. This is stated in the Annual report of the National Center of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Prevention of Torture for 2020.
In order to analyze the situation during the epidemic, in December 2020, the National Center sent relevant requests, including, among others, the question of the number of deaths for the period 2013-2020, including those who died during 2020 from COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia, in closed institutions of the State Penitentiary Service.
According to the State Penitentiary Service, the total number of infected employees directly working in closed institutions and the sick employees of the above category with community-acquired pneumonia and COVID-19, for the entire period of the COVID-19 pandemic, was 298 people.
At the same time, the State Penitentiary Service noted that during the pandemic, 124 PCR analyzes were done for persons held in the institutions of the Department. Moreover, only three prisoners had positive results. During the epidemic, the total number of patients with pneumonia and COVID-19 among convicts and prisoners is 107 people.
“Based on the statistical data, it can be unambiguously concluded that the number of tests for coronavirus infection in the institutions of the State Penitentiary Service and the number of persons, keeping / living in subordinate institutions, is extremely disproportionate,” the report notes.
At the same time, according to the official information of the State Penitentiary Service (dated August 3rd, 2020), also presented at the request of the National Center, 85 employees of the State Penitentiary Service fell ill with COVID-19, of which 30 are employees of correctional colonies and pre-trial detention centers. There were 55 employees with community-acquired pneumonia.
During the study, in all pre-trial detention centers and correctional colonies, it was announced that employees had recovered from COVID-19 and bilateral pneumonia. Moreover, according to the results of the survey, 18 percent of the respondents were prisoners, i.e. almost every fifth reported that they had symptoms of coronavirus infection during their stay in pre-trial detention center №1 of Bishkek city.
“For example, 31 people told the administration about their symptoms, and only four of them were examined. It should be noted that testing of persons in pre-trial detention centers, despite the presence of symptoms of COVID-19 and complaints from prisoners, was not carried out in all cases,” the report says.
During the conversations with employees of the colony №19, it was announced that the number of cases of COVID-19 among the staff reached 60-70 percent of the entire personnel.
According to official information provided by the State Penitentiary Service, there are no infected and patients with COVID-19 in its subordinate institutions among the special contingent.
At the same time, the State Penitentiary Service reports that laboratory research by PCR testing for the presence of COVID 19 during the entire period of the epidemic was carried out only for 22 prisoners, which is about 0.2 percent of the total number of people in correctional colonies and pre-trial detention centers.
Isolators or places for observation were organized in medical units and points on the territory of institutions.
The survey results showed that due to the lack of free access to PCR testing, all patients with symptoms of a viral upper respiratory tract infection were registered as ARVI patients. Mortality was counted according to the same principle, while in pre-trial detention center №1 and the colony №19 with a cell type of accommodation, those under investigation and convicts announced the mass infection of COVID-19 in the summer of 2020.
“In the colony №19, where life-imprisoned persons are kept, X-ray examination was carried out for all convicts with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). According to the results, there were 10 cases with X-ray signs of the consequences of pneumonia. During the conversations, prisoners of the colony №19 reported that in July 2020, almost everyone was ill. According to prisoners of the colony №19 in Bishkek, there were COVID-19 patients in almost every cell,” the report says.
In addition, it was noted that there is an acute problem of access to medicines, medical care and the lack of specialized doctors in these institutions.
“The detainees in pre-trial detention centers and correctional colonies mentioned the following measures taken by the administration regarding the symptoms of coronavirus infection: “they took the temperature”, “gave medicines”, “carried out X-ray examination”, “disinfected the cells”, “gave injections”. Most patients with a preliminary diagnosis of COVID-19 in severe form were hospitalized at the hospital of the colony №47, where more than 1000 cases were recorded with symptoms of community-acquired pneumonia. Most of them had mild and moderate forms without complications. According to the staff, six people died of pneumonia at the time of the survey work,” the authors of the document wrote.
The total mortality rate from January 1 to September 2020 among the special contingent is 34 people.
Causes of death of prisoners who died between January 1 and September 2020:
- tuberculosis – 2,
- tuberculosis + HIV – 1,
- nonspecific somatic diseases – 28,
- oncological diseases – 2,
- suicide – 2.
“Analyzing the causes of death, it’s worth dwelling on the facts of death from oncological diseases of persons in prisons. The National Center emphasizes that the detention of a patient in the final stage of cancer in a pre-trial detention center or correctional colony and his/her death in custody, without providing adequate treatment, in the complete absence of psychological and palliative care, is a fact of cruel and inhuman treatment. It should be noted that during the COVID-19 epidemic, the well-known human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov died in the penal colony with a diagnosis of bilateral pneumonia,” the report says.
The results of special studies of the National Center for infection safety and access to medical care in places of deprivation and restriction of liberty during the coronavirus epidemic suggest that the COVID-19 virus has penetrated into the closed institutions of the State Penitentiary Service, but the leadership’s policy of restricting access to information, as well as blocking the activities and limited resources of human rights institutions didn’t allow assessing the real consequences of the epidemic.
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