Joe Costello
Ceist:125 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Justice if there is a segregation unit operating in Mountjoy Prison where prisoners known to have the AIDS virus are detained; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Mountjoy Prison Segregation Unit.
The new health care unit in Mountjoy Prison contains about 50 prisoners who are HIV-positive and who require close supervision and/or who can benefit from the special regime there. However, the unit is also intended to accommodate other prisoners who are ill or convalescing and whose needs can best be met in the unit.
I have accepted the recommendation in the report of the Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases in Prisons — 1993 — that the automatic compulsory segregation of prisoners who may be identified as HIV-positive should cease and steps are being taken to that end. The policy of non-segregation will be facilitated by strict observance of medical confidentiality in relation to testing for HIV-positivity. I should say, however, that some prisoners who test positive may themselves seek to be accommodated in the health care unit and where appropriate they are facilitated.