Rising HIV cases among jail inmates: PHC seeks prisoners screening test reports in 14 days

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday directed secretary Home and Tribal Affairs and Inspector General Prisons Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to submit a detailed report about screening tests of prisoners across the province within 14 days.

A division bench comprising Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim issued the direction in a writ petition. The petitioner had sought an order for screening tests of prisoners as HIV cases were allegedly on the rise among the jail inmates in the province. On the previous hearing, the court had already directed the provincial government to submit reply to prisoners' issues pointed out in the petition.

Following his release and acquittal in a murder case, one Sajjad Ahmad, filed the petition through Muhammad Khurshid Advocate. He appealed to the court to order screening tests of prisoners and direct the prisons authorities to provide proper space to the prisoners as all the prisons of the province were highly overcrowded.

Sajjad Ahmad had been sentenced to death in a murder case. Having spent 15 years in the prisons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he highlighted the problems being faced by the prisoners.

The petitioner expressed concern over the alleged increase in HIV cases in the province's prisons. He stated that 12 out of 126 prisoners had been found HIV positive after the screening test. He said that 50 cases of Hepatitis A, B and C were also confirmed among the prisoners.

Sajjad Ahmad cited improper treatment and check-up of the prisoners in the prisons as major reason for the incidence of these diseases. He contended that the prisons were overcrowded as 640 prisoners were kept in the Swabi Prison, which has a capacity only for 125 inmates. He said similar situation existed in all prisons, especially the Peshawar Central Prison.

The petitioner stated that the total number of prisons in the province is 25 and five of these are central jails. He claimed that as per the official information he received, currently 5,000 prisoners are languishing in the Peshawar Central Prison though its capacity is far less than that.

Sajjad Ahmad stated that fatal diseases like Hepatitis-C and those of kidneys, diabetes and high blood pressure were also common among the prisoners. The petitioner stated that the prisons' hospitals are being used as rest houses by influential and VIP prisoners on the plea that they are under-treatment there.

He pointed out that the prisoners were deprived of their constitutional and fundamental rights as they don't get proper medical treatment, adequate space in the prison and clean drinking water. The petitioner requested the court to direct the respondents including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through chief secretary, secretary Home and Tribal Affairs and inspector general prisons to provide the record of the screening test conducted in the Swabi prison to learn more about the patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, hepatitis A, B and C and other diseases.