TUBERCULOSIS: Zambia prisons

HIV and tuberculosis are spreading in Zambia's prisons because of poor conditions and a lack of medical care, according to a report by three human rights groups. The report says prisoners in Zambia suffer from malnutrition and poor medical care, and are at risk of being raped and tortured.It says one of the main problems is overcrowding - a result in large part of slow trials and appeals. Some prisoners, it says, can spend years in prison waiting to be tried. Health and Human Rights Division Director Joseph Amon, of Human Rights Watch, one of the groups that worked on the report, says inmates with HIV and tuberculosis are worst affected. "Again and again people were saying, 'I have been sick for months, I have been unable to get access to treatment'. 'We have seen people die in our cells and we have called out that they needed to get help, they needed to get treatment,' and the prison officials have said, 'This is a prisoner who might escape, we cannot take them,' or 'This is a prisoner who is faking it, he is not really ill.' And what happens is that, in fact, people are dying," Amon said.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/health/Rights-Groups-Report-Zambias-Prisons-Spread-HIV-and-TB-92193099.html