PANOS London - Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Sadhna Mohan

Those times have passed, but another injustice appears to have taken their place as foreign prisoners are compulsorily tested for HIV -- the virus which causes AIDS.

During British rule, escape from the notorious jail in Port Blair, the islands' headquarters, was unthinkable. The surrounding seas are crystal blue, but 'Kala Pani' means black waters, signifying the islands' distance from the mainland and the fear that those exiled there would never return.

The latest controversy arose when authorities at the islands' Prothrapur District Jail sought permission from the federal government to remit the sentences of three Thai prisoners who had been tested and found HIV-positive.

The government refused it, prompting jail authorities to request the islands' health administration to issue a medical certificate, based on their HIV status, which would lead to their being repatriated or transferred to a jail on the Indian mainland "as their continued retention here even under isolation is not proper."

But the islands' AIDS officer, Dr Wajid Ali Shah, who examined the prisoners, declared they have no symptoms of AIDS -- it can take 10 years or more for symptoms to appear after first contracting HIV -- and require no special treatment.

According to Dr Shah, prison authorities began testing prisoners for HIV/AIDS in 1994 -- contrary to Indian government policy. Since then, 75 Thai and Burmese inmates have been sent home from Port Blair without serving full sentences because they were found to be HIV positive.

Annually over 300 people, mainly from nearby Thailand and Burma, are caught for poaching in and around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. They trade in timber and marine life, such as sea-cucumbers and sharks.

While jail rules stipulate that all inmates must be given a medical check-up after a month, only those who are foreign nationals are tested for HIV. Mohammed Kaneef of the prison service would not comment on this policy, but the islands' Lieutenant-Governor I P Gupta said: "We should release the prisoners prematurely to save the islanders."

Health experts say the statement either reflects the mistaken belief that the virus is transmitted through casual contact, or is a tacit admission that sex between men occurs in the islands' jails -- something common everywhere. For instance, a study on the outbreak of HIV infection in a Scottish prison, published in the British Medical Journal in 1995, says: "Sexual activity between men in prisons does occur with a high probability of practising unsafe sex due to the lack of condoms."

In Prothrapur Jail those with the virus are locked in their own cells at night, but during the day they mix with other prisoners. But by attributing cases of HIV infection to foreigners and short-term visitors, the claim can be made that islanders -- whether indigenous tribes or more recent settlers from the mainland -- are not at risk.

However, this claim is based on the notion that islanders do not have sexual contact with visitors and that islanders do not visit the mainland. Certainly there is no evidence yet of infection among the islanders. Dr Shah notes that only 20 non-prisoners have tested HIV-positive on the islands. All are from mainland India -- either short-term visitors such as businessmen or contracted workers, or defence personnel on a temporary posting.

The islands' Health Directorate is apparently considering bringing its policy on testing and deportation in line with national policy, which forbids compulsory testing or isolation.

But it could take time to filter through to the prison authorities, whose actions so far appear to meet what the United Nations AIDS agency describes as a condition of "widespread discrimination against prisoners with HIV/AIDS."

"Prisoners are often subjected to mandatory HIV tests with the results not being kept confidential. Those found to be positive are subject to segregation, isolation, denial of privileges, and denial of health care," says UNAIDS.

"Such policies violate the prisoners' rights to privacy and security of person, can constitute cruel and inhuman treatment, and have no public health justification in that they do not protect people from HIV/AIDS. In fact, they create a false sense of security so that prison staff and other prisoners do not take precautions to protect themselves," it adds.

Meanwhile, misconceptions about the disease remain rife on the islands with more than one newspaper advocating that all foreigners be tested for HIV and those found positive segregated and deported.

The 'Andaman Herald Daily' said in an editorial earlier this year when referring to reports of HIV cases in a local hospital: "Most of the cases detected were foreigners, uninvited guests whom we are keeping in our midst, who come from a permissive society. Knowing the way in which AIDS spreads, it will not be long before the infections start increasing and then spread like wildfire in the islands too."

It continued: "Scanning of foreigners for AIDS as soon as they are apprehended must be made mandatory and they should be immediately segregated and deported as early as possible."

In a way, the Andamans administration's approach to HIV is similar to the bureaucracy's reaction in New Delhi in the late 1980s when the first cases of HIV were detected in India.

The government's Council of Medical Research had then advocated compulsory testing of foreigners entering the country and banning the entry of those found positive.

Now, National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) guidelines say that only informed and voluntary testing of prisoners can be undertaken. And according to Dr P L Joshi of NACO, HIV-positive inmates should not be isolated or discriminated against in other ways.

Editor: Dipankar De Sarkar. Please credit Panos when using these features. Publishers are asked to send clippings of published features to Panos Features, 9 White Lion Street, London NI 9PD. Panos Features are also available on the Panos website http://www.oneworld.org/panos and by e- mail from Mark Covey, markc(at)panoslondon.org.uk. (END/PANOS/sm/dds/98)
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