Prison

authorities have confirmed plans to shut down the Hattieville prison in Belize

amid concerns that coronavirus is spreading at the country’s sole correctional

facility.

The

authorities at the Belize Central Prison have confirmed that more positive

cases of the virus have been detected among prisoners and wardens and up to

Friday night, five new cases were confirmed among ninety samples, bringing the

number to 21.

Media

reports said that a prison warden died on Thursday, though his cause of death

has still not been confirmed.

The prison has since instituted complete confinement of all inmates for their own safety, and according to the Director of Health Services, Dr Marvin Manzanero, the data shows that “we do have eight prisoners that have turned up and that is mostly as a result of the sweeps done on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.”

He added: “This

would include the initial persons that have been identified and then the

further ones identified earlier in the week.”

The

non-profit, non-governmental organisation, the Kolbe Foundation, which has

managed the prison since 2002 said it has established various quarantining

units within the prison to curb the spread of the virus.

The chief

executive officer at the Foundation, Virgilio Murillo, said that positive

persons are not being allowed to co-mingle with the general population.