The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Prisoners in Coimbatore volunteer for HIV test

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 18, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Prisoners in Coimbatore volunteer for HIV test

Staff Reporter

Recently an undertrial was certified HIV positive

Coimbatore: A number of undertrials, convicts and remand prisoners at the Coimbatore Central Prison have started opting for voluntary blood tests to screen for HIV. The issue becomes relevant in the wake of a blast case undertrial at this Prison testing HIV positive.

As against the sanctioned strength of 2,124, the prison has 2,421 inmates - 1,365 convicts, 290 undertrials, 725 remand prisoners, 40 detenus and 77 women prisoners.

The jail has been in the news following reports about a handful of undertrials and prisoners suspected to be HIV positive.

In the last few months, there had been six deaths out of which two are suspected to be due to Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Recently, a medical report of Abbas alias Chinna Abbas, an undertrial which certified him to be HIV positive was produced at the Special Court for Bomb Blast Cases, which certified the accused to be having HIV positive.

Charge against prison

The prisoners held the prison administration responsible for the alarming rise in the number of HIV positive cases. They alleged that the use of injection syringes for more than one patient at the jail hospital and use of a single half-blade for the hair dressing needs of more than 20 prisoners was the reason for inmates turning HIV positive. The prison officials stoutly denied this. They said that the prisoners would have turned HIV positive even before coming to custody.

Dismissing charges of unnatural sex practices as the reason for the spread of the HIV, the undertrials and their counsel said as the high security prison had surveillance cameras all around there was no possibility for such practices.

Earlier, when the prison administration requested the inmates to volunteer for blood test, but the response was not encouraging. "The law does not permit any compulsory screening for HIV on any individual", said the prison official sources.

After an undertrial tested HIV positive, there is an increased awareness among the inmates. Last Thursday, a team of doctors from the Health Department and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) visited the Central Prison and held a counselling session in the presence of the DIG of Prisons and the Superintendent, P. Munivelu and S. Rajendran respectively.

The team collected blood samples for screening of 71 blast case undertrials. On Saturday, another 39 undertrials and 24 other prisoners gave blood samples.

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