HIV Awareness raising in prisons and communities

As you perhaps know, Siam-Care works with HIV-infected inmates. Many of them either get infected in prison, or only discover in prison that they are infected. Should all inmates perhaps be tested on arrival in prison? A Dutch student does her graduation thesis on this subject.

Some people argue that all inmates should be tested when they arrive in prison. Other's want prisoners to decide for themselves. Currently the policy in most Thai prisons is that inmates only get tested when they feel sick and/or show symptons of HIV. Siam-Care would like for all prisoners to at least have the opportunity to get tested, so that appropriate treatment can be provided as early as possible in the sickness-process. 

A dutch student from the Netherlands will do her thesis on this subject. From February until August this year, she will do interviews with prison staff, with inmates, and with Siam-Care staff. Her main goal is to bring all views together and come up with a suitable advice for Thai prisons. The student will also make a comparison of Thai prisons and prisons in the Netherlands, to see if they can learn from each other.

Wong (not real name) is a 18 year-old boy, who will spend the next 10 years in prison and is HIV-infected. A while ago, he felt so depressed that he tried to kill himself. Thankfully, Siam-Care was able to help him.

Wong comes from Nakhom Phanom, a province near Bangkok, where he grew up together with his mother and 2 younger sisters. His father left the house just after his youngest sister was born. He started a new family and hasn't been in touch with Wong or his family for more than 10 years already. Wong's mother makes some money by growing vegetables and selling these at the local market. The family struggled hard to make ends meet and forces by the family's dire financial situation, Wong started selling drugs when he was only 14 years old.

Arrested and sentenced
During his first month as a drug runner, Wong made more than his mother makes in a whole year. He enjoyed his life, had many friends and did not worry about a single thing. Until he was arrested a couple weeks later. One of his clients set him up and called the police. Wong was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison. In prison, he underwent a medical test and discovered that he was HIV-infected.

End his life
Wong's world collapsed. He felt depressed after hearing about his condition that he tried to kill himself. Thankfully, the prison staff was able to save Wong and they contacted Siam-Care, as we work with HIV-infected prisoners. Our staff made an emergency visit to prison, as no regular visits were scheduled for that week. We talked with Wong and gave him an idea of was his future could look like. He felt relieved hearing that HIV-infected people can live a pretty normal life, as long as they take their ARV-medication. 

Started fighting again
This all happened a couple months ago and Wong is still in prison. There isn't much we can do for him. Just by informing him about his infection and offering him a shoulder to cry on, we gave him some hope. He still doesn't feel too happy as he will be in prison for many more years, but at least he is not fighting again.