UN warning on AIDS in prisons

[July 23, 2010]  VIENNA (AP) -- The U.N.'s top investigator on torture and punishment is warning that overcrowded prisons are breeding grounds for AIDS.

Manfred Nowak, who has visited detention facilities around the world, says inmates are often held in inhumane conditions in which the HIV virus is spread through the use of non-sterile drug injection equipment, sexual contacts, tattooing and sharing of razors.

Nowak told an international AIDS conference Friday that governments should, among other things, inform prisoners of the risk of HIV infection, offer free HIV testing and counseling as well as provide needle and syringe programs and opiate substitution therapy.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.