With all the major risk factors converging in Thailand's prison population, the Corrections Department is looking at ways to deal with the problem of HIV-transmission.


Condoms finally found their way into prisons several years ago when the Ministries of Justice and Health gifted the Corrections Department with 100,000 condoms. More recently, an automatic condom dispenser was installed in Bang Kwang, and just a couple of weeks ago, Corrections officials posed with handfuls of pink-packaged condoms after a press conference in which they revealed there are 740 known cases of HIV and Aids in prison.
Dr Sombat Thanprasertsuk, director of Thailand's Bureau of Aids, TB, and STIs, says these steps are promising signs that the Corrections Department, which is included under the National Aids Plan, is making efforts to interrupt in-prison Aids transmission and to get prevention and treatment to a population that until recently has been largely overlooked. Still, in a system where there are 160,000 prisoners and where not all Aids risks are condom-proof, the 100,000-condom handout symbolises what, all parties would agree, are only baby steps towards a 100% solution.

Full article - Bangkok Post (http://www.bangkokpost.com/291006_Perspective/29Oct2006_pers001.php)