More than a third of all inmates suffer from illnesses, including AIDS, syphilis and tuberculosis, a senior federal prison official said Tuesday.
Nikolai Krivolapov, deputy head of the Federal Prison Service, said illnesses affect about 340,000 of the country's 846,000 inmates, RIA-Novosti reported.
“The big picture remains abysmal, although there is no year-on-year increase in rates,” Krivolapov said at a news conference held at RIA-Novosti offices.
An Interfax report put the number of ill inmates at 240,000. The data could not be immediately reconciled.
Krivolapov said 15,000 inmates have been diagnosed with syphilis, 40,000 with tuberculosis, 55,000 are HIV positive and 67,000 have mental disorders.
The state spends 2,000 rubles ($64) per month per inmate on medical needs, and the 13,400 medical staff employed by the prison service are required to examine all inmates every day, Krivolapov said.
The law allows courts to free convicted inmates who suffer life-threatening illnesses, and the Justice Ministry has drafted legislation that would extend the right to seriously ill suspects now held in pretrial detention centers.
The health condition of prisoners hit the spotlight after two, lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and businesswoman Vera Trifonova, died in pretrial detention in recent months after apparently receiving insufficient medical help.
Krivolapov gave no figures for ill suspects in pretrial detention.
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