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HIV/AIDS blamed for prison deaths

    JOHANNESBURG

    Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has attributed most of the 127 deaths at one of the countries prisons last year to HIV and AIDS.

    However, the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ), which is currently conducting a study of the nation's main prisons, says the fatalities at Khami prison in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo, were a result of overcrowding and "abysmal conditions".

    The organisation told a local newspaper, The Daily Mirror, that Khami was housing 1,167 inmates against its set capacity of 650.

    LSZ president Joseph James said: "This overcrowding has a terrible effect on the prisoners and coupled with reduced ventilation, is the prime reason for the spread of diseases, notably tuberculosis. There are 96 recorded cases of tuberculosis, 25 cases of scabies and six known cases of HIV/AIDS."

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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