Nanjing sets up jail for inmates with HIV/AIDS

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-08-02

A prison in Sichuan has set aside an area to house AIDS prisoners.
(File photo/CNS)

Nanjing has established the first detention center specifically for inmates with HIV/AIDS. The new center solves a long-term problems for police from suspects who have used their condition to avoid detention and trial, reports the local Jinling Evening News.

The center is located near a remote mountain 35 kilometers away from Nanjing's city center. Two iron doors guard its entrance. The prison is designed like a hospital with all of its wards lined along a main hall. A ward is 15 square meters and houses three inmates. Detainees at the center are all HIV carriers convicted of burglary, using and/or selling drugs.

All of the utilities in the facility are designed to avoid cuts and injuries. Furniture edges are round and utensils are all made of plastic. Toothbrush bristles and handles are also made of soft materials. Lunchbox cases are collected, sealed and transported to be sterilized by the hospital. The inmates also wash their own clothes and staff members collect and dry the washed clothes at designated areas. The center's food does not include fish to avoid puncture wounds from fish bones. Female inmates are separated from the men.

Police officers at the center are trained by experts about the risks of exposure to HIV/AIDS.

People with HIV/AIDS were not detained in the past due to lack of specialist facilities and some individuals have reportedly treated their condition as an immunity from prosecution. Since the center in Nanjing was established, four suspects with HIV/AID have been charged and transported to the facility.