JAMAICAN authorities could, by the end of this month, know just how prevalent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are among the island’s prison population.

According to head of the correctional services, Major Richard Reese, a probe into the matter has been undertaken by researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

“They promised to release it to us in February. When that is received, then it will be presented to the Ministry of National Security, and then the ministry will make a determination as to what from the study will be released,” Reese told the Sunday Observer on Friday.

The study, which also investigates the extent of the problem of lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, began in 2005 and was completed in December last year. It covered a sample of 100 inmates from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, and benefitted from the input of the Ministry of Health.

News of the study’s pending release comes in the wake of last week’s Sunday Observer story detailing the ordeal of a prisoner who said he was raped at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre by four cellmates, having been convicted of manslaughter and obtaining goods on false pretences. The man, who the Sunday Observer referred to as “Morton” is now HIV-positive.

Reese said Friday that the findings will be used to inform prison officials how to regulate the health of Jamaica’s prisoners, who number approximately 5,000.

“Once we get the results from the study, that will inform our testing and treatment regime because we can more equip ourselves for the particular challenges that we face,” he said. “It will (help determine) which tests are mandatory and which are optional because you don’t want to waste resources for something that is not posing a challenge or that is not of significant concern.”

The prison boss would provide no details on the preliminary findings of the study but said they were encouraging.

“I can’t (divulge any details) but it is extremely encouraging in terms of the perception society has with our problem and the statistics that have been bandied about by certain groups in terms of communicable diseases,” he said. “The most I can say is that we are looking at single digits and it is not inflation.”

Reese said the Correctional Department would, coming out of the research effort, stage a number of health fairs as inmates appeared more amenable to getting tested for various diseases.

“We now have inmates who are currently serving sentences voluntarily tested. Because of the overwhelming support of the inmates, we are now having health fairs at Fort Augusta [women’s prison] and St Catherine [Adult Correctional Centre] to do expedient testing. Everybody wants to get a full medical,” he said.

“The lessons we learned from the project is that it is best to have a health fair than to have a programme where we do 20 or 30 a day,” he said. “With a health fair, you can have 100 to 150 a day in terms of examinations and testing.”

The authorities, he said, were in the process of planning the fairs, the first of which is to held in April at Fort Augusta because that prison is small.

“The numbers are small as well,” he said. “We are getting to a stage where you will have a 100 per cent compliance in terms of testing, and then all the new admissions you have will be mandatory testing.”

The Correctional Services has, in the interim, spent approximately $6 million on the upgrade of its medical support services under a programme titled ‘The Reproductive Health Project’. The project has been supported by the Global Fund, the Florida-based Health Through Walls and the America Corrections Association.

Work dine under the project include:

. the upgrade of the hospital/medical ward and the establishment of laboratory facilities at Tower Street;

. the installation of two dental chairs, one at Tower Street and the other at the St Catherine prison;

. the training of 17 emergency medical technicians; and

. the implementation of a response team for the transportation of inmates to and from health care facilities.

That response team is supported by Friday’s addition to the Correctional Services fleet of bikes.

“We took possession of another three motor cycles today (Friday) so we have a total of 14 bikes,” said Reese. “The Ministry of National Security donated two and the department purchased the other 12 from savings derived from our operations.”

He said the next step was to train 70 new medical orderlies, while they seek to secure the services of several counsellors. They are also looking to train a number of paramedics.