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Health-Namibia:
In Prisons, a Little Latex Could Go a Long Way
03 Jan 2006- A piece of legislation nearly 30
years old that outlaws male-to-male sodomy may, at first glance, appear
more a target for gay rights activists than AIDS campaigners. Seen in
the context of Namibia's prisons however, the 1977 Criminal Procedures
Act raises questions that relate to both health and rights.
As a result of the act, condoms are
not being distributed in Namibian jails: to do so would amount to
condoning sex between men in contravention of the law, says government,
even if it had the benefit of reducing HIV transmission. "By giving them
(prisoners) a condom you are telling them to go ahead and do it,"
Ignatius Mainga, a spokesman for the Ministry of Safety and Security's
prison services, told IPS.
While he did not deny that sodomy
was a feature of life in Namibia's jails, Mainga maintained it was not a
regular occurrence -- and that it typically took place between partners
who had a relationship before entering prison. No instances of rape had
ever been reported to prison authorities, he added.
"I believe that with sodomy the
majority of cases are consensual, and the information we get on the
ground is that inmates are against condoms in prison. They are married
and engaged men who don't want to be seen as having sex with other men,"
he noted.
Mainga said that programmes were in
place to show prison inmates how to avoid contracting HIV. With the
latest official statistics putting national prevalence at 19.7 percent,
however, campaigners such as Michaela Hübscle would prefer to see a more
practical approach taken to AIDS prevention in jails.
A former deputy minister at the now
defunct Ministry of Prisons and Correctional Services, Hübscle is a
staunch advocate for the distribution of condoms in jails and the
decriminalisation of sodomy.
"It's not that I want to promote
sodomy, but we do have a sub-culture in prison whether we like it or
notàPeople will have partners, especially the long-timers. They are
human beings after all and can't masturbate forever," she says.
In contrast to Mainga's assertion
that prisoners would prefer condoms to remain taboo, Hübscle notes that
during her term at the ministry inmates made several requests for
condoms. However, she found it impossible to convince government that
distributing condoms did not amount to promoting sodomy -- despite
receiving some support from the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
"We are sitting on a time bomb. The
prevalence rate will increase if we do not protect those who enter
prison negative, and those who are positive from re-infection," Hübscle
concludes. She now runs a non-governmental organisation called Criminals
Return Into Society (CRIS).
IPS was unable to obtain statistics
from government about HIV prevalence in jails.
A former prisoner who now works at
CRIS, Harold Kamatuka, also takes issue with Mainga's assertions --
notably the claim that rape does not occur in prison. "There is a lot of
aggression in prison," he says. "People are traumatised, and if conjugal
visits are implemented it will decrease the anger inmates have and help
with conflict resolution." |
