Convicted persons using Skype and Viber to contact their families during the COVID-19 pandemic

Convicted persons in 10 prison correctional institutions (PCI) are using Skype and Viber to contact their families. This form of contact has been facilitated by the PCIs as an additional psycho-social support during the COVID-10 pandemic.

So far, the 10 PCIs have included the PCIs in Sremska Mitrovica, Niš, Pančevo, Padinska Skela, the Special Prison Hospital in Belgrade, the Belgrade and the Kragujevac District Prisons, the PCI for Women in Požarevac, the PCI for Minors in Valjevo and the Juvenile Correctional Home in Kruševac. The family calls are made with the use of tablets donated to the PCIs by the German NGO Help, or existing computers in the case of the PCI in Pančevo.

Enhanced psycho-social support to convicted persons, which is essential in any stressful situation, has been provided by the employees of the Department of Treatment and Alternative Sentencing of the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions since March 2020, and this latest form of support through Skype and Viber communication will help convicted persons worry less about their families.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, convicted persons in all correctional institutions have been granted longer breaks outside for fresh air and more frequent telephone calls to their family members. As a result of all the COVID-19-response measures put in place, and the families’ awareness of the situation and concerns for their loved ones, the number of visitations has reduced in all correctional institutions which, in turn, is very important for preventing the spread of COVID-19.

To that end, the Administration has been implementing stricter preventive measures since 11 March. First, it banned all visitations of prisoners, but then allowed them again on 12 May under strict rules on COVID-19 prevention: checking visitors’ body temperature upon entry, the use of shoe sanitising stations (mats), hand sanitising, and mandatory wearing of face protection masks and gloves, and protective visors for detainees and convicted persons. Then in June 2020 — as an additional preventive measure — the Administration provided all correctional institutions with 10,000 rapid blood tests for antibodies against COVID-19 for all convicted persons.

One of the important standing preventive measures in effect since 11 March has been a two-week quarantine in smaller separate rooms for newly received prisoners under close health monitoring, without any contact with other prisoners in the institution.