First HIV eradication committee in prison set up

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

In an apparent attempt to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among prison inmates, particularly those who have drug dependency problems, the Indonesian government on Monday established the Bali's prison working committee on HIV/AIDS prevention.

In a modest ceremony at the island's largest penitentiary Kerobokan, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights' director of narcotics, Soejoto, said the committee would be tasked with providing inmates with a wider access to information, health services and support related to HIV/AIDS and drugs.

"This is the first provincial-level prison working committee we have ever had in Indonesia and we expect other provinces will soon follow suit," the Indonesian HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care Project (IHPCP) adviser Palani Narayanan said.

The IHPCP was the primary donor of the working committee, which would facilitate and supervise HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs at the island's two designated narcotic prisons: Kerobokan and Bangli.

Chairman of the working committee AA Gde Hartawan said the efforts to curb the virus had actually started before the working committee was established. He said the Kerobokan prison authority had conducted a regular education program on HIV/AIDS since 2001 in cooperation with various local non-governmental organizations.

"We initiated the program after blood tests conducted on prison's inmates showed that 35 inmates were HIV positive," Hartawan said.

The existing program focuses on raising the inmates' awareness of various risky behavior that could transmit the virus, most importantly needle-sharing among the inmates. Peer educator trainings, meditation sessions, narcotic anonymous meetings and Voluntary Test Counseling (VCT) are some of the program's current activities. The prison has also placed all inmates with a history of drug-use in one special block.

"The existence of the working committee will enable us to expand the existing program. We will soon provide the inmates with condoms, and bleaching powder that will effectively sterilize syringes and needles," Hartawan said.

The Kerobokan prison currently houses 560 inmates, 264 of them are drug addicts. Blood tests conducted on 300 inmates in October 2003 disclosed that 32 of them were HIV-positive.

"Our education program is effective because when we informed the inmates of the results of the tests they said they were not afraid of living side by side with HIV-infected people. There has been no report of discrimination against HIV-infected inmates here," Hartawan said.