Covid: 100 Winchester Prison inmates and staff test positive

HMP Winchester has two parts - a category B Victorian prison and the smaller West Hill site

A Covid outbreak at Winchester Prison is leaving staff "struggling" and "under pressure".

The BBC understands about 80 prisoners have Covid - a fifth of all inmates. About 20 staff have also tested positive.

One elderly prisoner with Covid, who had underlying health problems, recently died in hospital.

The Ministry of Justice said it was "closely monitoring" the situation in the prison.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) said staff who were not ill or having to self-isolate were doing a lot of extra hours, and were stressed and tired.

Sarah Rigby, of the POA, said staff were "really feeling the pressure" and were worried about their ill colleagues.

"Morale is struggling," she said.

"Staff are getting tired because they're being asked to extend their shifts all the time.

'Precautionary measures'

"Some of the landings are so narrow you can't fit two people side by side walking on some of these landings, so how can you socially distance, really? You can't, can you? So they have got it against them in that respect."

A Prison Service spokesman said: "Our priority is to limit the spread of the virus and protect the lives of those who live and work in our prisons.

"We have taken precautionary measures and are closely monitoring the situation at Winchester."

He said all prison staff were routinely tested, along with new prisoners and transfers, to isolate those who test positive before they show symptoms.

Angus Somerville of the Independent Monitoring Board said Winchester was one of the last closed prisons in the region to have an outbreak.

He said: "Men are not allowed out of their cells for very extended periods of time... but I think everything's being done that can be done."

HMP Winchester has two parts - a category B Victorian prison, holding up to 561 prisoners, and the smaller West Hill site with about 130 category C inmates.