Some inmates and medical personnel in the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre have highlighted a grave situation of abuse allegedly happening inside one of the island?s main prison facilities.

They claim that a number of inmates, particularly those who are mentally ill, are being targeted by other inmates as well as correctional officers for forced sex. It is alleged that several inmates are gang-raped and are consistently physically abused. Many inmates are now HIV-positive, The Sunday Gleaner sources say, and are often left untreated and for dead.

A medical doctor, who has been working inside the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre for over a decade, says he became aware of the situation in 2000. But the issue came to the forefront in 2005 when therape of an inmate caused prison authorities to separate inmates believed to be homosexuals from mentally challenged inmates who were living on the same block.

Reese not aware

Contacted for a response to these allegations, Commissioner of Correc-tions, Major Richard Reese says since his appointment in 2003, he is "not aware of any incident of an inmate being charged or found guilty of sexual assault with the exception of an allegation of a male inmate sexually assaulting a female who trespassed on to the Tamarind Farm ACC."

The Sunday Gleaner prison source further claims there are some 75 mentally challenged inmates who are now HIV-positive as a result of sexual exploitation and are given very little attention. Eight of those inmates now have AIDS due to the slow move by the prison administration to get them treated, the prison doctor says, and at least three have died over the last year alone.

Another died in the Spanish Town Hospital as The Sunday Gleaner reporter penned this story last week, increasing the number to four.

However, Major Reese explains that mentally ill inmates are housed separately from other inmates at all institutions and at the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre they are now provided uniforms with designations as to their category acute , sub-acute and chronic. The provision of uniforms for the mentally ill inmates at Tower Street will be implemented shortly, he adds.

"Parting them off doesn?t make a difference, because they (warders and inmates) use things like tobacco and alcohol and ganja to lure them and then take advantage of them," a medical official at the St. Catherine facility reports.

Frequent occurrenceThe Sunday Gleaner has spoken corroborated the doctor's observations. An inmate who was also gang-raped and beaten on several occasions tells The Sunday Gleaner the rape of inmates, particularly those who were mentally ill, was a frequent occurrence. He says they are often targeted because they are weaker and no one believes them when they report incidents of abuse. When they become HIV-positive he says, prison authorities turn a blind eye to them until they become extremely ill.

But the Commissioner of corrections says, to date, there has been "no confirmed case of any inmate contracting HIV since incarceration." All the protocols mandated by the Ministry of Health are observed to include pre and post-test counseling, adherence counseling, treatment and special diet authorisation by medical officer, Major Reese reports. He adds that inmates with AIDS are treated by way of medication and special diet and if their condition requires hospitalisation then they are transferred to hospital. They also receive counseling from the prison chaplaincy and could be recommended for compassionate release.

Suicide attempts

Responding to claims of frequent suicide attempts by inmates, Major Reese says inmates "deemed to be suicidal are housed individually and placed on suicide watch. All items which could aid suicide are also removed from the cell." The psychiatrist, he adds, is also requested to examine and treat the patient.

Says Reese: "Certain situations may cause an inmate to consider or attempt suicide (death of a relative, illness of a close relative, loss of an appeal, a sentences of death, pending extradition other relational problems with spouse, no visits by family or friends [abandonment]). He adds that staff are trained to deal with persons deemed suicidal, but he notes that suicide cannot be prevented if an individual is determined to take his/her life, because sometimes the symptoms are not discovered in advance.