The number of prisoners in England and Wales who have tested positive for coronavirus and died has risen by 50% in a month as cases behind bars surge.
In December, 24 prisoners died either having tested positive for Covid or where there was a clinical assessment that the virus was a contributory factor in their deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 71.
According to weekly statistics, about 2,400 prisoners have tested positive since the start of December, bringing the total number of positive cases since the start of the pandemic to 4,800, a rise of about 70% in a month.
The increase in prison cases comes as cases surge in the community, with a new, more transmissible variant of the virus. The Ministry of Justice has been testing all symptomatic prisoners since April.
Sources told the Guardian Covid-19 was not the main contributing factor to the death of a prisoner in a third of the cases. It is understood that vulnerable prisoners are expected to be vaccinated in line with the vaccine rollout.
But David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, said the government had lost control of the crisis. He said: “It is frightening that the government has lost control of the virus in prisons. More staff and inmates will die if ministers do not get control of this pandemic.
“Outbreaks in prisons can also pump the virus outside of their walls, overwhelming local hospitals and infecting the rest of the community. The government must rapidly roll out vaccines across the country so that we can secure our economy, protect our NHS and rebuild Britain.”
There are about 79,000 prisoners in England and Wales and 121 prisons.
A mass testing programme of all prisoners in 28 prisons – covering about a fifth of the population – to help understand the spread of the disease in jails was launched in July and any inmates who test positive are included in the data.
In addition, the Ministry of Justice said it was routinely testing all offenders who arrive from the courts and those who transfer across the prison estate, as well as frontline staff.
Prisons were placed under a highly restrictive regime during spring, which was slowly but not completely unwound across the summer and autumn.
The system in prisons broadly reflects the situation in the community, which is under national lockdown. Social visits are suspended in England, except on exceptional compassionate grounds. Visits to children in the Youth Custody Estate will continue.
The surge in cases presents a challenge for ministers and prison officials, who have faced warnings about the devastating longer-term impact of subjecting prisoners to a highly restrictive regime but must balance protecting staff and inmates from the virus.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Our condolences are with all those who have lost loved ones. Our carefully implemented measures, including shielding and mass testing, have meant that the number of Covid-related deaths is significantly lower than predicted at the start of the pandemic.”
Source: Guardian