Several experts in human rights and the prevention of torture including the former UN Special Rapporteur have published an international law perspective on the release of prisoners in Latin America (in Spanish), in the context of the current spread of COVID-19 in prisons. The conditions of imprisonment make’s prisoners particularly vulnerable to contagion. 

The article analyses the current situation under international law, looking at three specific topics:  

• Liberation or release of people in preventive detention; 

• Sanitary isolation vs. solitary confinement; and 

• The handling of dead bodies in prisons 

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