Inmate with HIV dies in Tangerang

TANGERANG: An HIV-positive inmate at Tangerang Penitentiary for Youths and Adults died on Sunday from tuberculosis.

Tangerang Police chief Insp. Sumanto said that the patient, a resident of Joglo subdistrict, West Jakarta, was serving a four- year jail term for drug abuse.

"Based on medical reports, the inmate died on Sunday at about 10 a.m., from tuberculosis," Sumanto said on Monday.

Sumanto said that the inmate had been treated at Tangerang General Hospital from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24 and had been allowed to return to the penitentiary after his health had improved.

"On Monday morning, he was found dead in one of the penitentiary's isolation rooms in Block F," he added.

The patient was reportedly the first HIV-positive inmate to have died. Health officials said in April this year that 22 percent of 200 prisoners who took HIV/AIDS tests at Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta tested positive. --JP