PENITENTIARY SYSTEMS AND THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PRISON POPULATION IN THE PERIOD OF THE ’NEW REALITY’
Abstract
The appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the spread of the infectious disease COVID-19 led to the declaration of a pandemic by the WHO in early 2020, and epidemics at the level of nation states. The consequences of the enormous speed of the spread of the virus and the consequences for human health have influenced significant changes in all spheres of social life. The period of ‘new reality’, as the time in which we live is called, is characterized by numerous limitations and restrictions of "normal life flows and activities" in an attempt to prevent or slow down the spread of the virus. Established restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms vary in scope and duration depending on the epidemiological situation in a particular country. Pandemic trends are unpredictable, so the reactions of states at the normative level are usually forced. The authors devoted their work to the prison population as one of the vulnerable groups during the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 on the functioning of prison systems, the normative aspect of prison health protection at the global level, comparative trends in virus infection and prevention in prisons, and especially restricting the rights of convicts in the Serbian penitentiary system during the pandemic.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22190/TEME210904066G
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