New Delhi: In a shocking news, 125 prisoners in Delhi’s Tihar jail have been found HIV positive while 200 prisoners have been detected with Syphilis. The information came to light after 10,500 prisoners were screened.
HIV is a major health challenge for prison authorities. HIV in prisons has implications for HIV in the general community. The aim of this paper was to gather information on HIV risk, prevalence, prevention and treatment in prisoners.

around 5 million people in Asia were living with HIV. India accounts for about half of these infections1. Sentinel surveillance conducted by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) shows that in the general population HIV prevalence is low (0.25-0.43%), but among high-risk groups, HIV prevalence is much more. In at least five States, HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDU) is greater than 10 per cent, with a high of 24 per cent of IDUs are HIV positive in Maharashtra. Prevalence is also elevated among female sex workers and men who have sex with men2.

Globally, progress has been made in implementing HIV programmes in the community2; however, HIV prevention, care and treatment have largely been neglected in prisons3. HIV is a major health challenge for prison authorities4,5 because substance use disorders6 and injecting drug use7 are common among incarcerated populations. Subsequently, HIV, viral hepatitis and tuberculosis are more prevalent in prison populations than in the general population8.

There are an estimated 165,000 IDU in India9, and it is common for people who use illicit drugs to experience periods in custody10. However, there are very limited data on the prevalence of drug use or other HIV risk behaviours among Indian prisoners. In a study conducted in 1997-2000, around 8 per cent of individuals admitted to Tihar Jail in Delhi were known to be drug users11, while in a more recent study of 466 inmates in Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab, 63 per cent reported ever using illicit drugs12. Despite this uncertainty, it is highly likely that, as in most countries around the world7, people at high risk of HIV infection are over-represented in Indian prisons.”
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Medical screening of prisoners is done from time to time in Tihar Jail. After the new DG of Tihar Jail Satish Golcha took charge, jail found hiv positives.