Some 200 in­mates at the Max­i­mum Se­cu­ri­ty Prison (MSP) in Arou­ca were left hang­ing as the test­ing for the COVID-19 did not take place yes­ter­day as planned.

Al­though spe­cif­ic rea­sons were not giv­en as to what pre­vent­ed the com­mence­ment of the crit­i­cal ex­er­cise, prison sources al­leged that in­mates felt “re­ject­ed by the sys­tem.”

How­ev­er, act­ing Prison Com­mis­sion­er Den­nis Pul­chan on­ly said “lo­gis­tics weren’t in place.”

“Swab­bing did not take place to­day (yes­ter­day) but it will com­mence to­mor­row (to­day) with all lo­gis­tics in place,” Pul­chan said.

Asked specif­i­cal­ly the rea­sons for it not com­menc­ing, Pul­chan replied: “Lo­gis­ti­cal is­sues but it was sort­ed out.”

The in­mates wait­ing to be swabbed are the ones who have been iden­ti­fied as pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary con­tacts.

They were iden­ti­fied through trac­ing of those who would have come in con­tact with the 18 in­mates that test­ed pos­i­tive for the virus over the week­end.