Skin diseases common at Paledang jail

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

If Jakarta's penitentiaries are riddled with HIV/AIDS, as announced by the Jakarta Health Agency earlier this month, the Paledang Bogor Penitentiary has a problem with skin diseases.

Two of the Bogor detainees suffered chicken pox recently.

This forced the penitentiary warden to isolate them in order to prevent the contagious disease from spreading to other detainees.

Other types of skin disease in the penitentiary include fungus and skin irritation.

Paledang Bogor Penitentiary warden Ibnu Chuldum said on Tuesday that insufficient bathing and changes of clothes were the main causes of the spread of skin diseases at the penitentiary.

Another factor was overcrowding at the prison.

"The penitentiary can only accommodate 500 people, but as of now we have 796. In the Anyelir block, whose capacity is only 27, there are 83 people," he said.

The overcrowding has occurred because the penitentiary not only accommodates detainees and inmates from Bogor city, but also from Depok and Cibinong, both in Bogor regency.

"With so many detainees or inmates sleeping together in a very confined space, skin diseases can easily infect others. The situation has worsened due to the lack of ventilation," Ibnu said.

To reduce the risk of being infected, the detainees have to exercise three times a week.

"They also have to sunbathe," he said.

Ibnu said the penitentiary and the Bogor municipal administration would work together to build a new penitentiary complex.

"We propose to acquire a plot of land measuring four hectares to six hectares. The area will not only be for the penitentiary but also other facilities, including a mosque and workshop," he said.

Earlier this month, the Jakarta Health Agency chief A. Cholik Masulili told reporters that HIV/AIDS was widespread in the city's penitentiaries.

In Salemba Penitentiary, Central Jakarta, 22 percent of 200 prisoners who took HIV/AIDS tests were found to be positive, according to health officials.