HIV/AIDS survey to be undertaken in prisons

The South African Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has announced plans to undertake a survey of HIV prevalence in the nation's 240 prisons.

DCS spokesman Bheki Manzini said the study would be conducted to allay speculation about the level of HIV/AIDS among inmates and staff, as no official statistics currently existed.

According to the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons, the annual mortality rate per 1,000 prisoners had risen from 1.65 in 1995 to 9.1 in 2004.

"However, the increasing mortality rate can not directly be linked to the pandemic ... the causes of death on the death certificate are not indicated as AIDS-related, and it is therefore difficult to directly link it to AIDS," he told the South African Press Association.

The survey will be conducted in Gauteng province during April and May before being extended nationally, depending on the results of the pilot run.

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