Union has to demand PCR tests for workers after Covid prison outbreak

covid outbreak

Archidona facility already has 69 inmates who have tested positive during latest Covid prison outbreak

The CSIF Prisons Malaga union has pushed back against the management of the Archidona prison, the Malaga II Penitentiary Centre after staff were left out of PCR screenings following a Covid prison outbreak. There are already 69 confirmed cases among the prisoners up from the 31 originally infected. 

The union released a statement condemning the fact the officials have been left out of testing when they have been in contact with confirmed cases. They have asked that additional tests be carried out to minimize the risk of infection. 

The PCR tests to date have been carried out in Modules one and four. Module one is the unit that contains the positive results, while the other units’ tests have all returned negative. CSIF points out that while the positives are in one unit, the inmates from this unit are cleared to carry out various activities throughout the whole prison. 

Although the infected people have been isolated and most of them are asymptomatic, with screening well established through the inmate population, CSIF says the lack of communication around the outbreak is “in breach of the established regulations and violating the rights of workers in matters of occupational health and safety “. 

The union has requested that a staff screening be carried out to limit the further spread of the Covid outbreak. It wants to see at least the workers who have been in close contact with the positive inmates tested to minimise the risk of the virus spreading outside the person walls. They have also demanded that “access to the facilities of volunteers, ministers of worship and teachers” be temporarily prohibited while this situation exists, in order to minimize exposure to possible risks of contagion. 


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Written by

Claire Gordon

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