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Hanover (dpa / lni) - The prisons in Lower Saxony have so far been spared major corona outbreaks.

«Since March we only had around 30 corona cases among prisoners in just under 10,000 prisoners during this period.

That is an extremely small number, ”said Lower Saxony's Justice Minister Barbara Havliza (CDU) of the German Press Agency.

It turned out to be positive that all inmates were tested when they were newly admitted.

For this purpose, 750,000 euros were made available from the second supplementary budget.

Regardless of their test result, all newcomers must also spend two weeks in quarantine.

At the beginning of the pandemic, a so-called separation station was set up in every correctional facility (JVA).

Since then, according to the ministry, 32 prisoners or people in detention have tested positive for the novel virus across the country.

There were 40 corona cases among the employees - a total of around 4,000 women and men work in the penal system in Lower Saxony.

The risk of infection is high where people are close together.

In other federal states, too, the number of cases in prisons remained low.

However, there were outbreaks, for example in a prison in Frankfurt am Main, where 26 inmates and two employees were infected at the beginning of November.

In the USA, on the other hand, prisons are corona hotspots.

Havliza said of the situation in Lower Saxony: “The separation stations are taking up space.

These are then places of detention that cannot be occupied. "

Due to concerns about overcrowding in the prisons, the execution of prison sentences was temporarily suspended for up to one year.

"But we haven't resorted to this for a long time," said the minister, emphasizing: "Violent and sexual offenders were not spared."

Nobody could hope for a pardon.

The penalties have already been made up or are to be carried out later.

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Since the beginning of November, however, as in the spring, summons to serve substitute prison sentences have been suspended.

This means that people currently do not have to be detained as a substitute if they cannot pay fines.

Currently there are 4,334 people in prisons in Lower Saxony (as of January 14).

This corresponds to a utilization of a good 73 percent.

According to the ministry, six of the 32 prisoners were infected from open prison facilities - four in connection with their employment, two during their short Christmas vacation.

Others tested positive when they were newly admitted to the institution.

There were another nine cases of youth arrest, which usually only last a few days.

Information from the Ministry on Corona and Justice