Noel Thompson, Freelance Writer
Health Minister Horace Dalley addressing members of the Western Regional Health Authority board at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, yesterday. - PHOTO BY NOEL THOMPSON
WESTERN BUREAU:
HEALTH MINISTER Horace Dalley is supporting calls for the distribution of condoms in the nation's penal institutions.
"I am in support of getting condoms into the prisons because I, as Minister of Health, cannot deny that HIV/AIDS infections exist among people who are incarcerated," Mr. Dalley told The Gleaner yesterday. "That is a fact and from time to time people are tested and we see the results."
"It is said that about five per cent of the prison population is exposed to the virus," he added.
Mr. Dalley visited the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay for the first time since his appointment as Health Minister and met with board members of the Western Regional Health Authority.
DODGING THE TRUTH
Inferring that he was not a minister who was dodging the truth, Mr. Dalley said, "I am not a minister who rub things under the carpet."
"We must not deny it, but face the reality and find ways to accept that we must get condoms into the prisons. It is coming from me and I mean it." He said he would be backing the move to ensure condoms are distributed in the prisons.
Mr. Dalley's call follows that of former Commissioner of Corrections, Lieutenant Colonel John Prescod, in 1997. At least 17 prisoners, deemed to be homosexuals, were killed in two maximum security facilities during three days of rioting, following Mr. Prescod's call for the distribution of condoms to combat HIV/AIDS in prisons.
Col. Prescod came under intense criticism from persons in various sectors who thought it was inappropriate for him to have made the suggestion.
