The department of correctional services does not know the extent of the HIV and Aids epidemic in South Africa's 240 prisons, but will shortly undertake a national HIV prevalence survey in an attempt to "allay speculation".
"In order to allay the speculations on the HIV prevalence rate in correctional facilities, the Minister of Correctional Services and the national commissioner have approved the undertaking of an HIV prevalence survey among offenders and staff," said departmental spokesperson Bheki Manzini.
Manzini said the survey would be conducted in Gauteng during April and May, and based on these results, expanded nationally.
He said initial results could be expected towards the end of September, and would help inform the department's HIV and Aids strategy.
South Africa has among the world's highest infection rates and the majority of prisoners - young, uneducated black men - fall into the high risk category.
Manzini said the department did not have official statistics on the exact number of prisoners infected with the disease.
"Not all the offenders in the correctional centres have disclosed their HIV status. It is therefore a challenge to come up with a conclusive number."
Manzini said the department has been concerned about the increasing mortality rate among offenders, which according to the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons, has risen during 1995 to 2004 from 1,65 deaths per 1 000 prisoners per year to 9,1 deaths per 1 000 per year.
"But the increasing mortality rate can not directly be linked to HIV and Aids. Research studies to determine the increasing mortality rate and its link with HIV and Aids have not been undertaken. The causes of death on the death certificate are not indicated as HIV and Aids and it is therefore difficult to directly link it to HIV and Aids," Manzini said.
A controversial study at Durban-Westville Medium B prison showed a 30 percent infection rate among some 300 inmates following voluntary, anonymous testing.
The 2001 study, conducted under the auspices of the Health Economics and HIV and Aids Research Division of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was designed to quantify and analyse the HIV and Aids epidemic among inmates.
The department of correctional services banned the Durban-Westville report and still denies such a survey had taken place.
Inspecting Judge Hannes Fagan, in the immediate aftermath of the report being presented to the department, was also forced to retract an extrapolation that as many as 60 percent of the country's prisoners could be HIV-positive.
Manzini said the department was unaware of any prevalence survey conducted at Durban-Westville.
He said once the "necessary approval processes" have been completed, the results of the new survey would be made public "at a time and place yet to be determined".
Manzini said HIV-positive offenders are currently being referred to the department of health's anti-retroviral therapy treatment sites.
But the department of correctional services was getting approval for accredited anti-retroviral sites in prisons.
The first such site has been accredited and is operational in Bloemfontein.
Difficulties the department of correctional services faced in the roll-out of anti-retrovirals included transporting offenders to external sites, shortage of professional staff such as dieticians and pharmacists, and prisoners not possessing identity documents.
Mark Schlachter, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Pretoria, said the department of correctional services received $1-million (about R6-million) from President George Bush's President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief in 2005 to help combat the pandemic.
"The partnership with the department of correctional services is one aspect of a comprehensive US programme to address under-served high-risk populations.
"Prisoners are a critical target group for HIV prevention, palliative care and treatment," said Schlachter.
"The key question is whether or not there will be sufficient interest among prisoners, as this will be a strictly voluntary activity," said Schlachter.
Manzini said testing would be "totally" voluntary, with consent forms having to be signed.
He said the provision of anti-retrovirals at prisons was guided by the department of health's national policy.
"All offenders have the right to access to medication."
The legally guaranteed provision of anti-retrovirals is increasingly becoming a vexed issue among prisoners, with 119 HIV-positive offenders at Durban-Westville prisons last week embarking on an aborted hunger strike to highlight their grievances.