The Costa Rican Ministry of Justice and Peace is in charge of the prison administration. Each penitentiary facility has its own health unit dedicated to general healthcare. The health staff can be shared between two prisons and they usually include a general doctor, a psychiatrist and nurses. All the specific care and more complex treatments or surgeries are referred to the nearest hospital or clinic.

In March 2020, an educational process was put in place by the administrative and health staff to inform prisoners about the virus and its prevention. At the time, the prison density was of 122%. The Vice-Minister of Justice and Peace affirmed, in July 2020, that since overcrowding made social distancing non-existent, the administration had invested in raising awareness amongst prisoners and maintaining good hygiene.
Masks could be provided by family members. An official explained: “There are more than 15,000 prisoners and the resources of the prison administration are scarce. That is why we authorised that the relatives provide them with reusable masks. We try as much as possible to provide for those who did not receive any” (Interview with a Prison Administration Officer).

When a COVID-19 case is identified among the prisoners, the first measure taken by the administration is to isolate the person. The prison authorities must then notify the Ministry of Health to coordinate a sanitary plan. Appropriate medical care must be provided, and, in case of moderate and severe symptoms, the infected prisoners are transferred to an external public care facility.

The authorities conducted a mapping of the places within the facilities that could be transformed into medical and quarantine areas for prisoners and for prison officers. This included gyms and classrooms. The prison authorities reported that their architects had been working to adapt these spaces with toilets and sinks. All prisoners having left the penitentiary facilities for more than 24 hours (for judicial procedures or medical reasons), as well as all those newly arrived were placed in preventive isolation. Newly arrived prisoners had to follow a protocol: disinfect the footwear, wash his/her hands, use alcohol gel and change clothes.
The Ministry of Justice and Peace reported that additional health staff was hired and that the health unit working hours were extended to 10pm. A new schedule to access health units was established: prisoners with COVID-19 symptoms were examined during the mornings. The afternoons were dedicated to other illnesses, with priority to chronic pathologies. Prison health staff started working on Saturdays and Sundays, so as to limit transfers from prisons to hospitals, which were found to be a major risk of contagion. Hospital transfers were limited to cases that were not treatable within the prison facility. COVID-19 cases that needed oxygen supply were treated in external health facilities.

Non-medical transfers were reduced to a minimum, based on lessons learnt from the 2019 mumps epidemic.

Movements within facilities were also limited. The authorities set up a system of sub-groups (prison social bubbles) to organise the movement of prisoners, so as to avoid contacts between groups when moving them from one facility to another. Each sub-group was subjected to a 14-day quarantine and the dormitories were fully disinfected in the meantime.

The first reported case of COVID-19 amongst prisoners occurred in Reforma prison, in Alajuela, on 1st July 2020. The infected person was a newly arrived prisoner. Once the case was identified, he was placed in quarantine in an individual cell for 18 days. The four other prisoners who shared the cell with him were also placed in quarantine, separately, for 14 days. The Ministry of Health ordered the isolation of the 300 prisoners held in the unit where the first infected was detained, as well as the disinfection of the unit. The Ministry of Justice and Peace ordered the suspension of the transfers in and out of the unit and the reinforcement of the prevention measures and sanitary monitoring.
Two days later, on 3rd July, the Ministry of Justice and Peace confirmed four new cases: two prisoners and two staff members. The infected prisoners were already held in an isolation space at the time of their diagnosis, since they had returned to the prison after judicial procedures.
On 21 July 2020, the number of infections in the prison system rose to 30 cases, amongst which 15 prisoners and 15 prison staff.
The Ministry of Justice and Peace has been reporting the number of cases on its Facebook page on a regular basis. As of 13 December 2020, 2,168 prisoners and 616 prison staff were infected and 13 prisoners had died from COVID-19.

Virtual hearings for all judicial procedures were conducted in the facilities where the appropriate equipment was installed.
The decisions of sentence adjustments are made by the Institute of Criminology on a case-by-case basis, analysing the prisoner’ situation and the length of the sentence already executed. Prisoners are placed in open regime as a first step.
“Since the first cases, the procedure for the releases has become more constant and responsible. The first criterion is to make sure that the person can go back to a family, has a job offer or enough resources. Releasing someone at risk from the disease for them to live on the streets would not make sense” (Interview with a Prison Administration Officer).

Before the pandemic, volunteer groups and external institutions were key to the development of sports as well as cultural and spiritual activities. Preventive measures limited the entry of external actors. The prison administration asked prison directors to present a protocol to allow prisoners to exercise and practice contact sports, in accordance with the “prison social bubbles” system. This was especially designed to guarantee prisoners’ participation in football matches.
In order to guarantee prisoners’ right to education, classes were conducted virtually, written exams were maintained and conducted following a sanitary protocol.

As of mid-March 2020, visits were suspended in all penitentiary facilities. By November, the Emergency Commission and the Ministry of Health had started to study the possibility to resume the visits.
Access to phone calls was already insufficient before the pandemic. The Emergency Commission established a protocol for virtual visits. Some efforts were made to provide prisons with tablets and cell-phones and to make videocalls possible, although the appropriate equipment was not equally available in all facilities. In Vilma Curling Prison for women, the virtual visit project has allowed women to obtain at least two virtual visits with their families in three months. Parcels (bombas) with food and goods from loved ones can be brought to prisoners. A schedule is set and relatives wait in a queue in front of the facilities. Prison officers receive each parcel for screening and are in charge of their distribution.