Prisons Called 'HIV FACTORIES' in Asia

by: Michael Casey, The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Unprotected sex and rampant drug use in
Asia's overcrowded and run-down prisons is fueling the AIDS epidemic
in the region, and governments have been slow to recognize the
threat, activists say.

Prisons "are HIV factories," said Elizabeth Pisani of Family Health
International, an AIDS prevention group in Jakarta. "We are
introducing a population that we know to be infected with the virus
into an environment where people shoot up drugs and have anal sex."

When HIV-positive prisoners are released, there is a high likelihood
they will spread the infection, she said.

Rights activists have long called for better conditions in Asian
jails, where they allege inmates are routinely beaten, and deadly
diseases like tuberculosis and typhoid go unchecked. Medical care in
many prisons is substandard or nonexistent and widespread corruption
means just about anything -- from drugs to sex -- can be bought.

Few governments in Asia's developing economies keep officials
figures on HIV infections among inmates. But private groups say they
are rising at an alarming rate.

In Indonesia, prisons that had reported almost no HIV cases among
inmates in 1999 had almost 25 percent of their populations infected
in 2003, the National AIDS Commission said.

In Thailand, one quarter of inmates at Klong Prem Central Prison on
the outskirts of Bangkok have tested positive for HIV, activists
say. AIDS disease has also become a leading killer in Cambodian
jails.

Rising HIV rates in Asian prisons reflect a global trend that has
also hit Africa, South America and Russia, the United Nations says.
South African prisons have seen death rates surge 500 percent in
recent years largely because of AIDS.

"It probably is much worse than what we expect because prisons
represent the lowest common denominator of society," said Anindya
Chatterjee, a senior adviser with UNAIDS in Geneva. "These inmates
are the underclass and most vulnerable to HIV. We've seen this in
Russia. We've seen this in China and we'll definitely see it in
Indonesia."

Some prisons in Indonesia have started distributing information to
new inmates on the dangers of unprotected sex and intravenous drug
use and plan to introduce methadone -- a heroin substitute
prescribed to addicts -- in Jakarta and Bali prisons starting this
month.

But prison officials say they have no money to test inmates for HIV
or pay for treatments.

"We know this is a big problem but we've got no money," said Wahid
Hussein, an official at the Cipinang Narcotics Prison. "When we see
an inmate sick with AIDS, we can't do anything for them."

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has refused to
follow the lead of European countries and offer free condoms or
clean needles for injecting drug users. Officials say doing so would
promote gay sex and drug taking.

Thailand has begun to offer condoms in some prisons, but it is not
providing inmates with clean needles.

"OK, so they can't hand out needles -- it's too extreme for them to
accept,' said Somchai Krachangsaeng of advocacy group the AIDS
Access Foundation. "But maybe they can tell the prisoners the
dangers of using drugs."

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