Liberia: Keeping Ebola out of jails
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.Everyone who enters Monrovia Central Prison has to submit to the mandatory temperature check and wash their hands with chlorinated water.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.Chlorinated water for washing hands is available to all.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.The Ebola virus has an incubation period of 2 to 21 days. To keep the prison population safe, newly arrived detainees spend their first 21 days in a specially designated area and undergo health checks to keep the virus out.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.The ICRC distributes hygiene and essential items to prisons throughout Liberia once a year. Despite the ongoing Ebola epidemic, we're doing all we can to keep helping both the detainees and the detaining authorities.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.The items distributed include such basics as mats, blankets, soap and toothbrushes.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.Inmates and ICRC staff alike help out in the distribution of the items.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.Ensuring access to clean drinking water is a priority in prisons.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.Overcrowding and cramped conditions encourage the transmission of contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis. ICRC hygiene and cleaning kits help fight the spread of such diseases inside prisons.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Monrovia Central Prison, Liberia.The ICRC visits all 15 of Liberia’s prisons, helping the authorities improve conditions and providing assistance to the detainees.CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / T. Glass
Ebola has affected Liberians from all walks of life. The race is on to curb the spread of the disease, but there is one group of people whose health is not always uppermost in people's minds: detainees.
The ICRC has a longstanding presence in Liberia. We visit detainees and support the authorities in detention-related matters throughout the country. Together with the detaining authorities, the ICRC has set up preventive hygiene measures to keep Ebola out of jails. At the same time, we've maintained our existing assistance programme, bringing cleaning and hygiene materials, food and clean drinking water to 15 detention facilities.
