On 14 March 2020, the Czech Government issued a Government Decree no. 77/2020 which prohibits any visitations in the prisons, detention centres and correctional centres during the state of emergency. Exemption from the prohibition is legal representative of the prisoner. The prohibition will last until the end of state of emergency, which is currently set to expire on 17 May 2020.
As of 16 April 2020, in order to maintain the rights of the prisoners all Czech prisons and detention centres were provided with technical equipment supporting private Skype calls between prisoners and their legal representatives. This measure was a part of a long-term plan originally aimed to cut costs associated with travel time etc. which has been accelerated in order to reflect current health concerns and minimize the risk that prisoners will not be able to connect with their legal representatives during the pandemic.
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