Correctional services to challenge ARV ruling

Officials of the Westville Prison ordered to immediately start administering ARVs to prisoners

Luphumzo Kebeni, the department of correctional services spokesperson, says they will challenge a ruling that all prisoners who are in need of anti-retroviral treatment be administered with medication immediately. The Durban High Court made a ruling today that ordered officials of the Westville Prison to immediately start administering ARVs to prisoners.

The department has denied that the Westville Prison was dragging its feet in dispensing ARV treatment to prisoners that were in need of the medication. Kebeni says it is unfortunate that the matter was brought before the court, while they were in negotiations.

Kebeni says the department of correctional services is not an ARV-accredited site which means they cannot dispense ARV treatment as they please, hence, he says, the intervention of the Aids Law Project was premature. He says the intervention was premature as they were on the verge of a breakthrough.

Department denies passing the buck
The correctional services department has denied passing the buck onto the department of health. He says if the department was to dispense ARV's, this would be in contravention with their mandate.

Thumba Pillay, a judge, ruled in favour of 15 HIV-positive inmates at the Westville Prison who had made an urgent application to the court last month. In handing down judgment, Pillay also gave prison authorities two weeks to present an operational plan to speed up ARV treatment.

Jonathan Berger, a lawyer with the Aids Law Project, says what was clear throughout the process was that the department of correctional services was very slow to act, and has only acted when pressure was put on it. He says the reason they had taken action so as to highlight prisoners right to healthcare and adequate medical treatment.

An order was granted against the head of Westville Prison, the minister of correctional services, the department's area commissioner for KwaZulu-Natal and both the provincial and national ministers of health. Pillay ordered that the State pay the costs of the appeal.