Table 1 Summary of guiding principles for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in custodial settings

Correctional authorities and governments have a responsibility for, and must protect, the health and safety of people deprived of liberty and staff (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2020; Amnesty International, 2020a; Amnesty International and Justice Project Pakistan, 2020; Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020b; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2020a; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 2020; International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 2020; International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA), 2020; International Detention Coalition, 2020; International Federation for Human Rights, 2020a; Lachsz & Hurley, 2020; Penal Reform International, 2020a; Sanchez et al., 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; UNICEF, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020a, 2020c; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020c, 2020e; World Health Organization, 2020c)

Correctional authorities must uphold internationally recognised human rights standards (United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 1985; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011; United Nations OFfice on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2015) to maintain a safe and humane custodial environment (Amnesty International and Justice Project Pakistan, 2020; Australia New Zealand Scholars, 2020; Australian Scholars, 2020; Barnert et al., 2020; Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020b; Crowley et al., 2020; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2020b; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; International Federation for Human Rights, 2020b; Lachsz & Hurley, 2020; National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, 2020a; Sanchez et al., 2020; Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Killings, 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; UNICEF, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020a, 2020b, 2020d, 2020f; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020a, 2020c, 2020e; Waly et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2020a, 2020c)

COVID-19 prevention and control measures must be proportionate to the health risk, necessary, time-limited, non-discriminatory, legal, transparent, and the least intrusive option (AMEND, 2020a; Amnesty International, 2020a, 2020b; Association for the Prevention of Torture, 2020; Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2020; Council of Europe, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020b; Danish Institute Against Torture, 2020a, 2020b; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 2020; Human Rights Watch, 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 2020; International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA), 2020; International Detention Coalition, 2020; International Federation for Human Rights, 2020a; New Zealand Office of the Ombudsman, 2020; Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Rights Group, 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; United Nations, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c, 2020d; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020b; Waly et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2020c; World Organization Against Torture, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c)

People in custody must receive regular, timely, consistent, and transparent information on COVID-19 risk reduction, active outbreaks, and prevention and control measures implemented; communication strategies should be tailored to meet diverse physical, cultural, literary, and cognitive needs (AMEND, 2020a; Barnert et al., 2020; Communicable Diseases Network Australia, 2020; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2020a; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 2020; Hewson et al., 2020; Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, 2020; Innovative Prison Systems, 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 2020; Justice and Corrections Service, 2020; New Zealand Office of the Ombudsman, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020a, 2020b, 2020d; US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020a; World Health Organization, 2020a; World Organization Against Torture, 2020a; Wurcel et al., 2020)

People in custody must receive an equivalent standard of health care to that available in the community, including when it pertains to COVID-19 prevention, testing, and treatment (AMEND, 2020a; Amnesty International, 2020b; Amnesty International and Justice Project Pakistan, 2020; Association for the Prevention of Torture, 2020; Australian Scholars, 2020; Council of Europe, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020b; Crowley et al., 2020; Danish institute Against Torture, 2020b; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, 2020a; Human Rights Watch, 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), 2020; New Zealand Office of the Ombudsman, 2020; Royal College of General Practitioners Secure Environments Group, 2020; Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Summary or Arbitrary Killings, 2020; Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Rights Group, 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; UNAIDS, 2020; United Nations, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020a, 2020e; United Nations Network on Migration, 2020; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020a; Waly et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2020a, 2020c; World Organization Against Torture, 2020a)

People in custody must maintain the right to legal representation and continued deprivation of liberty must consider the current conditions of detention, particularly within the context of compulsory medical isolation and other measures that introduce additional restrictions on personal freedom (Association for the Prevention of Torture, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020a; Danish Institute Against Torture, 2020a; FIACAT, 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA), 2020; International Detention Coalition, 2020; National Juvenile Defender Center, 2020; Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Rights Group, 2020; Terres des hommes, 2020; The International Legal Foundation, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020c, 2020e; United Nations Women, 2020)

Compensatory measures that alleviate the potentially harmful impacts of restrictive COVID-19 prevention and control measures on the physical, emotional, and mental health of people in custody should be applied (Association for the Prevention of Torture, 2020; Australia New Zealand Scholars, 2020; Council of Europe, 2020; Hewson et al., 2020; Stewart et al., 2020; Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Rights Group, 2020)

Independent monitoring and oversight, whether conducted in-person or remotely, must continue to monitor respect for fundamental rights (Association for the Prevention of Torture, 2020; Australian Scholars, 2020; Avocats Sans Frontières, 2020; Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020b; Danish institute Against Torture, 2020b; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 2020; Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland, 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA), 2020; Lachsz & Hurley, 2020; New South Wales Government, 2020; Penal Reform International, 2020a; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c; World Health Organization, 2020b; World Organization Against Torture, 2020a)

Immediate action to reduce prison population density is needed to address widespread overcrowding in correctional settings, and must be applied with adequate transition planning to facilitate safe reintegration into the community (Alohan & Calvo, 2020; American Academy of Pediatrics, 2020; Amnesty International, 2020a; Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2020; Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020a, 2020b; Henry, 2020; Piel, 2020; Rubenstein, 2020; Simpson & Butler, 2020; Sivashanker et al., 2020; Terres des hommes, 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; UNICEF, 2020; World Organization Against Torture, 2020c)

A sustainable response to the COVID-19 pandemic requires carceral system reform rooted in health equity to address ongoing crises of overcrowding, poor living conditions, and substandard health care in custodial settings (Alohan & Calvo, 2020; Crowley et al., 2020; Minkler et al., 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020)

COVID-19 prevention and control measures should be tailored to the local and cultural context, resource availability, and specific needs of key vulnerable populations (Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, 2020b; European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), 2020; International Federation for Human Rights, 2020b; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; United Nations, 2020; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020e; United Nations Women, 2020; World Health Organization, 2020c; World Organization Against Torture, 2020a)

Close collaboration between health and justice sectors is essential for an effective, coordinated, whole-of-government response (Akiyama et al., 2020; AMEND, 2020a; Amnesty International, 2020a; Association for the Prevention of Torture, 2020; Australian Scholars, 2020; Barnert et al., 2020; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020; Communicable Diseases Network Australia, 2020; Danish institute Against Torture, 2020b; Gorman & Ramaswamy, 2020; Hewson et al., 2020; Human Rights Watch, 2020; Innovative Prison Systems, 2020; Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020; Kinner et al., 2020; Liebrenz et al., 2020; Montoya-Barthelemy et al., 2020; National Commission on Correctional Health Care, 2020b; Penal Reform International, 2020a; Simpson & Butler, 2020; The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020; United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, 2020d; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2020d, 2020f; US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020b; Wallace et al., 2020; World Health Organization, 2020c; Yang & Thompson, 2020)