The Palestinian Prisoners’ Information Office announced on Tuesday that eight new prisoners had been infected with the coronavirus in Gilboa Prison and the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) transferred them to isolation cells in Ramon prison.
Meanwhile the Prisoners and Ex-prisoners Affairs Authority said that the administration of Gilboa prison closed on Monday evening all its sections and announced it as a “Red” area.
The authority stated in a statement on Tuesday that the IPS collected samples of prisoners in several sections on Monday and eight new prisoners were infected with the coronavirus. The new cases were transferred and quarantined in section No. 3 which was allocated earlier for quarantine and isolation after more than 90 prisoners were infected with the virus.
It condemned the poor measures inside the occupation prisons and the IPS’s negligence in protecting the prisoners from the coronavirus.
Gilboa’s prisoners face difficult conditions and it is possible that the number of coronavirus infections will increase.
The IPS procrastinated in collecting samples from the rooms in which prisoners have been in contact with the infected prisoners. It told the prisoners that it would collect the rest of the samples on Tuesday which is a week after the announcement of coronavirus infection in the prison.
This procrastination is a deliberate and clear disregard for the prisoners’ lives as IPS gives only one lemon to each room and the prisoners are forced to buy masks and cleaning supplies at their own expense.
The prisoners appealed through several messages to all relevant authorities and international human rights institutions to intervene and save their lives which face the danger of both the jailers and the pandemic.
