ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a material impact on prison conditions worldwide. Not only has it led to greatly increased healthcare demands in prisons, but it has also resulted in large numbers of prisoners being subjected to reduced regimes and forms of isolation. Moreover, prison authorities are faced with uniquely difficult challenges. In a detention setting, restrictions dealing with COVID-19 can degenerate into inhuman and degrading treatment unless they are applied sensitively. This chapter focuses, from the perspective of international human rights law, on two difficult questions that have emerged in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, how should national authorities be dealing with the additional healthcare demands of the pandemic without infringing international standards that forbid indefinite or prolonged solitary confinement? Second, must independent monitoring continue during a pandemic and if so, how must this be done?
