AT LEAST 15% OF INMATES HAVE AIDS, REPORT SAYS
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:40 pm
ANSA) - Rome, September 17- At least 15% of inmates
held in Italian jails have AIDS, according to a report on
health in state prisons released on Wednesday warned.
According to the report which will be discussed in depth
at a meeting this weekend, 15% of the country's 55,960
prisoners have AIDS and another 3,000 are infected with the
HIV virus.
This is the highest figure ever reached since 1991,
during the epidemic's high point, it said.
State prisons currently house 55,960 prisoners, it
added.
A study by the state prison administration department in
April cited the slightly lower figure of 52,686 inmates.
The report also revealed that 25% of the country's
inmates have tuberculosis while another 38% suffer from
hepatitis.
''We don't know the reason for this escalation of
infections in jails across the country and are still
evaluating whether it is linked to an increase in contagion
or a recent clampdown on alternative detention schemes for
sick inmates,'' said Giulio Starnini, who heads a prison sick
ward at a Viterbo hospital.
''The data is alarming,'' he added.
An annual report issued in July by a group that
campaigns for better jail conditions said Italy's prison
system was currently struggling to house more people than its
official capacity.
The country's 207 prisons are designed to house just
42,980 inmates, the Antigone group said.
MIE
17-SET-08 17:28 NNNN
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-de ... wsid=10957
held in Italian jails have AIDS, according to a report on
health in state prisons released on Wednesday warned.
According to the report which will be discussed in depth
at a meeting this weekend, 15% of the country's 55,960
prisoners have AIDS and another 3,000 are infected with the
HIV virus.
This is the highest figure ever reached since 1991,
during the epidemic's high point, it said.
State prisons currently house 55,960 prisoners, it
added.
A study by the state prison administration department in
April cited the slightly lower figure of 52,686 inmates.
The report also revealed that 25% of the country's
inmates have tuberculosis while another 38% suffer from
hepatitis.
''We don't know the reason for this escalation of
infections in jails across the country and are still
evaluating whether it is linked to an increase in contagion
or a recent clampdown on alternative detention schemes for
sick inmates,'' said Giulio Starnini, who heads a prison sick
ward at a Viterbo hospital.
''The data is alarming,'' he added.
An annual report issued in July by a group that
campaigns for better jail conditions said Italy's prison
system was currently struggling to house more people than its
official capacity.
The country's 207 prisons are designed to house just
42,980 inmates, the Antigone group said.
MIE
17-SET-08 17:28 NNNN
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news-de ... wsid=10957