Turkey's parliament has passed a law that allows tens of thousands of prisoners to be released from prisons in the country as a security measure against the pandemic. And in early March, Gholamhossein Esmaili, spokesman for Iran's judiciary, stated that 54,000 of the country's detainees tested negative for Covid-19 were released on bail.

The measures are aimed at curbing the spread of the corona virus and reducing the risk that prisons will become infectious.

difficult to control

Morocco, Ethiopia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia are said to have chosen the same strategy, albeit on a smaller scale. However, this information is difficult to verify.

Afghanistan is also expected to release around 10,000 prisoners in order to avoid the spread of infection, and in Germany, the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia is considering releasing 1,000 prisoners to free up space at the facilities.

Norway is releasing

For the same reason, Norway has also released interns. To ensure that no inmates need to share rooms with each other, 260 interns have been released between 10 and 30 days earlier than planned, according to the Directorate of Prison and Probation.

Not relevant in Sweden

Despite the fact that the Swedish Prison Service in Sweden has struggled with a lack of place in recent years, it is not relevant to release prisoners from Swedish prisons because of congestion before serving their sentences.

"It is a challenge when we have few vacancies, but it is no problem to manage it this far," says Jörgen From Nordin, chief of staff at the Prison and Probation Service.

Infected waiting

On the other hand, people who wait to serve prison sentences, but are not deprived of liberty, and who exhibit symptoms of infection, must wait until they are symptom-free, says the Prison Service.