A critically ill awaiting-trial prisoner at Durban’s Westville prison has been denied anti-retrovirals (ARVs) because he does not have an identity document, a prisoners’ rights group said on Tuesday.
”Upon our visit to the prison this morning [Tuesday], we were dismayed to learn that the man could not access ARVs because he does not posses an ID — that is insane,” South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) spokesperson Derrick Mdluli said.
”In 2005, prison officials were ordered by the court to supply the man with ARVs, but it never happened. His CD4 count has now dropped to 104.”
Mdluli said on Tuesday that the man was too ill to even walk to the visitor’s centre.
Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela denied the claims. ”It cannot be true. It cannot happen. They [Sapohr] are just desperate to get media attention.”
Mdluli’s sentiments come barely three months after a ruling by Durban High Court Judge Thumba Pillay that the government should immediately provide ARV treatment at Westville prison.
His ruling followed an urgent application by 15 inmates of Westville prison and the Treatment Action Campaign — who were represented by the Aids Law Project — to compel the department to speed up ARV treatment.
On July 25, the department was granted leave to appeal against the order. However, on August 28, it was turned down by Judge Chris Nicholson.
He said South Africa could face ”a grave constitutional crisis” that could leave judges considering whether they should continue their work if the government disobeyed their instructions. — Sapa