Maseru - At least one prisoner dies weekly and 52 die yearly due to HIV and Aids related diseases at Lesotho's largest prison, the Maseru Divisional Commander of Correctional Services said on Monday.
Matete Mahao disclosed that the main contributing factor to the deaths and the spread of HIV and Aids at the Maseru Central Prison was sodomy, which, he said, was not a new phenomenon in Lesotho's male prisons.
Another factor is overcrowding.
"The congestion makes it very easy for a prisoner with an open wound to brush with another and hence the spread of the disease. We also do not have trained personnel to take care of sick prisoners and they end up nursing one another.
"HIV/Aids education is still wanting here, as many prisoners are not equipped with the knowledge of how the virus is passed from one person to another."
Even those who did have the knowledge, faced the dilemma of handling the sick with their bare hands for a wont of gloves and, added Mahao.
The high incidence of sodomy in the jail has forced prison authorities to try to arrest the situation by taking cases of sodomy in the cells to the courts.
He said four sodomy cases were prosecuted in October 2004.
"Two culprits were sentenced to a further 10 years and the other two got nine years each," he said.
Sex in prison, said Mahao, has different categories - the mutual agreement where the men take turns to have sex with each other - two males entering into a "marriage" where one looks after the other's material and security needs in exchange for sex.
"Here one becomes the wife and the other the husband," he said.
A third category would be male rape.
The prison's rehabilitation officer, Moliehi Mokoteli, said there was no law in Lesotho that permitted homosexuality, making sodomy illegal.
"We cannot give them condoms because that would mean we condone sodomy, but at the same time they are dying," she said.
The prison offers rehabilitation and development projects for inmates, which include sports, education and self-reliance projects. Asked if they ever consider masturbation as an alternative while counselling inmates, Mokoteli said "no, that is very immoral".
Maseru Central Prison hosts about 1 000 prisoners while its capacity is about 700. - Sapa