The notorious Syrian prisons did not need the coronavirus pandemic to become at risk of witnessing a humanitarian disaster. For decades, they have been hotbeds for many dermatology, respiratory and infectious diseases that find a perfect environment for them to spread and persist in the dark and unsanitary cells, leaving many prisoners with chronic and incurable illnesses.
One example among many others, was the prisoner who was found stranded on the streets of Damascus last week suffering from memory loss and in dire health. Had it not been for the blue stamp on his palm signifying release from prison, nobody would have known that he was one of those included in the amnesty issued on March 22.
The amnesty issued by Bashar Assad came a week after the Ministry of Interior announced the suspension of all prison visits for a month as well as all prison activities. The Ministry also announced that prison facilities will be disinfected.
In parallel, there were health awareness campaigns for both prisoners and prison guards. New inmates were also tested before being detained and inmates set to be transferred to other facilities were also tested.
The Syrian Committee for Prisoners received leaked information from central civil prisons such as Adra Central Prison in Damascus and prisons in Lattakia, Suwayda, Tartus, and Homs that confirmed that the prisons' authorities kicked off procedures to curb the spread of the pandemic. The committee pointed out that there is no information over the situation in military prisons, security branches, and secret cells where prisoners without a trial are being crowded indefinitely.
Given the lack of statistics on the numbers of prisoners in Syria and the existence of secret prisons, it is difficult to ascertain the efficacy of the recently declared amnesty in reducing level of packed cells in prisons, especially since organizations that monitor the prisoners’ cases only document prisoners of conscience. However, human rights organizations have pointed out that there have been more arrests than releases.
Furthermore, the government did not reveal any information to confirm or deny whether the pandemic has reached prisons after there was some news claiming that a number of detainees in Adra Central Prison for women showed symptoms of the infection.
