The criminal justice system is facing its biggest crisis of the pandemic as soaring numbers of infections tear through prisons and the courts.
There were confirmed Covid outbreaks in 76 of England and Wales’s 117 prisons at the start of last week, including all those in London, leaked official figures show. Prisoner infections were up 46% in a week to Monday 11, with 498 prisoners testing positive.
More than one in 10 prison staff were either off with Covid or self-isolating on Friday, according to an internal memo, with 1,383 at home with infections.
The death toll among prison staff is not known, but 51 prisoners have died of Covid, including four in the week to January 11, with a further 28 dying in the
