Prisoners dying of HIV/AIDS increase to 328 percent

A total of 1,101 South African prisoners died of HIV/AIDS in the first seven months of this year - an increase of 328 percent compared with the same period last year, Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana said on Tuesday.

According to an AP report, Skosana said during a briefing to parliament that personal and environmental hygiene in prisons was compromised by overcrowding. He said a high turnover of awaiting-trial prisoners had made it difficult to provide effective screening and treatment programmes.

The report said that according to documents submitted to parliament by Skosana, 4,368 prisoners were infected with HIV by 31 July 2001. This was 36 percent more than the 3,209 cases recorded a year earlier. Skosana said prisons were overcrowded, with 168,497 inmates sharing facilities meant for 105,016, the report added.

Meanwhile, Namibian and South African prison authorities met in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, earlier this month and discussed the distribution of condoms to inmates as a way to prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS. Raphepheng Mataka, Eastern Cape province Correctional Services Commissioner and head of the South African delegation, told PlusNews the HIV/AIDS pandemic was a major challenge for prisons as homosexual relations were a common practice and this could be a potential cause of HIV/AIDS. Mataka said it was time to face reality and the only preventative measure for prisons was to distribute condoms.