Prison officials lament disease and congestion

KENYA: Prison officials lament disease and congestion

JOHANNESBURG, 18 Aug 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - Communicable diseases and overcrowding could pose a huge challenge to Kenya's prison system, officials said.

At the opening of the Remand and Allocation Comprehensive Care Clinic and TB Unit in the capital, Nairobi, Prisons Commissioner Gilbert Omondi commented that penal institutions designed to hold 15,000 inmates were already housing more than 50,000 in some cases.

The issue of congestion was especially worrying in the presence of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, he noted.

According to a local newspaper, The Nation, Omondi hoped that the situation could be prevented from spiralling out of control if regular screenings for infectious diseases were conducted.

[ENDS]

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