The Home Affairs Minister has said that not all new arrivals at the prison spent 14 days in isolation.
Graham Cregeen told the House of Keys last month that all new inmates at the prison during the Covid-19 crisis were kept in isolation for two weeks.
But in a written response in this week’s Keys sitting, Mr Cregeen said this was not the case.
The process of isolating new arrivals, both those convicted of crimes and those who were being held on remand, has been criticised by advocate Ian Kermode, the Isle of Man Law Society and the Manx branch of Amnesty International.
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On May 15, Home Affairs Minister Graham Cregeen told MHKs: ’All new reception detainees are isolated for a period of 14 days during the emergency, irrespective of their offence.
’This is in line with the advice provided by Public Health to the medical professionals in the prison in order to limit the possibility of the introduction of the Covid-19 virus into the main jail, and the danger to the life and health of both detainees and staff.
This week, in a written response, Mr Cregeen said that from April 17, ’as a result of a new reception testing positive, the prison moved to a red scenario - a more restrictive regime’.
He added: ’The maximum time any offender spent on the isolation wing was 14 days - most of them spent less time than that because of police custody time.
’Only those who had other offences such as assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, drugs, theft, alongside breaching of Emergency Powers spent the whole 14 days in isolation ahead of going to the main prison where the regime was far more relaxed.’
A DHA spokesman said that as any time spent in police custody and on remand prior to sentencing is taken into consideration and deducted from their overall sentence length, several offenders will have spent fewer than 14 days in prison. They would have spent their time in quarantine before being released.
She added: ’The offences mentioned in the written answer to Miss Costain’s question are generally more serious and so these offenders will have spent more than 14 days in prison.’