Chapter 1 – Report of the Policy, Law and Complaints Group
in any of the prisons visited. A counsellor from the Ministry of Health (MOH) would
visit once a month but would attend only to serious cases.
(ix) The Commission strongly recommends a review of the salaries of prison staff to attract
qualified and high quality personnel to work in prisons and to ensure that prison staff
take pride in their work.
(b)
Survey Findings
(i)
The most commonly reported medical problem amongst inmates was scabies.
(ii)
Only a minority of prisoners reported that they had been quarantined for health reasons
at some point during their time in the prison. The majority of prisoners reported
that they had undergone a medical assessment in the prison at some point, mostly
following an order.
(iii) The majority of prisoners had not been offered dental examination in prisons.
(iv) Not all women prisoners reported being provided with sanitary pads during their
menstrual period; one-quarter of women reported that they purchased sanitary pads
themselves.
(v)
Most pregnant prisoners reported having access to pre- and postnatal health services
while in prison.
(vi) Most prison staff reported their mental status as being either healthy or very healthy.
However, prison staff complained of certain psychological symptoms, such as stress
while working in the prisons, sleep disturbance, anxiety and loss of appetite.
(c)
Conclusion
The Commission notes with concern that although the prison regulations state that all
prisoners must receive a thorough medical examination upon entry to prisons together with
proper documentation of their health status in their medical records, almost one-quarter of
participating prisoners had no upon-entry thorough medical assessment. The healthcare
delivery to female prisoners remains low.
The Commission is also concerned that despite the increased risk of exposure to several
infectious diseases, routine health assessment programmes for prison officers were not
implemented.
72
BOOK-ANR2016-01-latest.indb 72
08/04/2016 3:32 PM