Lowdham Grange Prison: Coronavirus

(asked on 5th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the increase in covid-19 cases at HMP Lowdham Grange, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of isolation compartmentalisation capacity at that prison.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 8th October 2020

The safety of staff and prisoners remains paramount. We have introduced robust measures, based on public health advice, to limit the spread of Covid-19 in custody, and a multi-agency Outbreak Control Team is leading the response to the outbreak at HMP Lowdham Grange.

At present, the original source of the outbreak is not certain.

Data on positive test results for staff and prisoners at HMP Lowdham Grange, based on their own management information and that has not been verified centrally, was released locally by Serco on 6 October. This confirmed that there had been 116 positive infections, including 77 prisoners and 39 members of staff.

Verified data on the number of staff, including non-directly employed staff, and prisoners that have tested positive for Covid-19 in September and October is due to be published in November, as part of Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) national Covid-19 statistics and workforce statistics on gov.uk.

The Director at HMP Lowdham Grange is being supported by HMPPS to implement the establishment outbreak control plan. The response is being managed through the formal structure of a multi-agency Outbreak Control Team, including public health communicable disease, epidemiology and health protection specialists, HMPPS, Serco, Public Health England and the National Health Service.

The team has reviewed the control measures, and HMP Lowdham Grange is currently operating a Stage 4 regime. This involves strong regime restrictions to support social distancing, and the suspension of social visits. The collection of medication, canteen, meals, taking showers and daily exercise are all being managed appropriately by staff, and face coverings have been introduced for prisoners. There are also no transfers taking place into or out of the prison. Additional restrictions on the regime are currently in place to allow for the testing of all prisoners and the release of results.

All staff at HMP Lowdham Grange have been tested, as advised by the Outbreak Control Team. Any member of staff that develops symptoms of Covid-19, has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive or has symptoms associated with Covid-19 is sent home and advised to have a further test. The establishment continues to isolate prisoners displaying symptoms, as set out in the HMPPS compartmentalisation strategy.

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