Dedi Sutardi, head of the penitentiary division at the West Java regional office of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, said most of the infections involved drug use.

He said only two of the 21 prisons in West Java provided HIV/AIDS services for inmates: Banceuy penitentiary in Bandung and Gintung in Cirebon, both of which are designated for prisoners on drug charges.

Banceuy prison has the highest number of inmates with HIV, with 42.

"The number was monitored after the inmates took tests. There are more inmates who did not take the HIV test," Dedi said at a World AIDS Day ceremony on Thursday.

"We are concerned that with the prison overcapacity this issue will become a danger."

He said the number of inmates infected with HIV was estimated to be higher than the recorded number, as one-third of the 15,000 inmates in the province were in prison on drug charges.

Most inmates with HIV/AIDS are drug users, with most drug-related inmates having been transferred from Cipinang and Salemba in Jakarta and from Serang and Tangerang in Banten.

"Only 1,835 of the 5,000 drug-related inmates receive special health treatment because they are held at Banceuy and Gintung prisons," Dedi said.

"The trend for the future is that there will be more drug-related inmates with more health problems including inmates at risk of having HIV/AIDS."

Bachti Alisjahbana, a doctor from Hasan Sadikin General Hospital's Teratai Clinic who helps provide counseling for inmates with HIV/AIDS at Banceuy penitentiary, said most prison healthcare centers did not have adequate facilities to provide special treatment for inmates exposed to contagious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis.

"Interministerial cooperation is needed to involve the health and justice ministries as well as NGOs to improve health services," Bachti said.

With help from the NGO IMPACT, Banceuy has been improving its health services for inmates since 2000. The voluntary counseling and test (VCT) service has netted 820 out of 845 inmates in the past two years.

"But not all prisons can afford such facilities although prisons are the best place to start counseling with the ideal targets," Bachti said.

As of September this year, 4,051 cases of HIV/AIDS in West Java had been reported to the West Java Provincial Aids Commission (KDAD) since 1989, with 64 percent having been infected while injecting drugs.

The increase in the number of people testing positive to HIV in West Java means the province now has the second highest number after Jakarta, with Papua shifting down to third. -- JP/Yuli Tri Suwarni

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