Barry Streek
Minister of Correctional Services Ben Skosana has told Parliament that there were only 2E600 known HIV cases in South African prisons at the end of December last year.
His figures of HIV-infected prisoners have, however, been hotly disputed by the Democratic Party.
In reply to questions tabled in the National Assembly by Johann Durrand of the New National Party, Skosana said that at the end of last year only 1,6% of the total prison population of 162E638 was HIV- positive.
“The Department of Correctional Services does not conduct HIV/Aids mandatory testing to prisoners admitted into the prisons.
“However, in a survey of 137 prisons conducted in August 1999, 21 out of 1 534 HIV/ Aids-positive prisoners allegedly reported that they contracted HIV/Aids in prison.
“With no testing on admission to determine the prisoner’s HIV status, the window period, and reluctance to reveal one’s sexual orientation and practice, it is difficult to determine the true picture of the number of inmates who contracted HIV in prison,” Skosana said.
The DP’s representative on correctional services, Hendrik Schmidt, said prisoners throughout South Africa had to be tested randomly for HIV/Aids.
“A sample of roughly 100 inmates should be tested for the disease in each prison. Although confidentiality should be guaranteed by the minister and the prison authorities, the information taken from the sample would, at the very least, provide the department with a far more accurate picture of the prevalence of the HIV/Aids epidemic within the prison system.”
The DP was highly sceptical of the statement that just 1,6% of the prison population had HIV/Aids. “National figures claim that at least one in eight adult South Africans, or 12,5% of the population, is infected with the disease. On this basis, it is highly probable that more than 20 000 prisoners have HIV/Aids, and not just 2E600 as claimed by the minister,” argued the DP.