BEIRUT: An international conference on drug abuse highlighted Wednesday the availability and abuse of drugs at Roumieh prison, which has seen violent protests over the last five days.
Speakers at the 22nd International Conference on Harm Reduction described how drugs are introduced inside the prison, based on a tour of Roumieh and interviews with prisoners and ex-addicts.
The five-day conference, on drug treatment and prevention, opened in Beirut Sunday and is taking place in the Middle East for the first time.
Participants in the tour detailed how they visited the prison block hosting prisoners convicted on drug charges and the AJEM center for drug user rehabilitation at Roumieh, and interviewed workers at the center as well as ex-addicts.
A nurse working at the rehabilitation center said the center received prisoners who are tested positive for HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis, and that admitting convicts who are tested positive for Hepatitis C into the prison, doubles the possibility of the disease spreading among inmates.
Louis, an ex-prisoner who was recently discharged, said that he had entered prison on charges of drug use as a result of social problems, but that he learned drug dealing in prison, where he took drugs twice a day.
“Because of the shortage in security personnel and employees in prison, prisoners are assigned with inspection tasks, and thus are able to circulate drugs inside the prison,” he added, saying prisoners are driven to using drugs as “the prison has become their world.”
Melhem, a prisoner who tested positive for Hepatitis C, said he caught the virus in Roumieh Prison by exchanging needles with other inmates.
During the event, a partnership agreement was signed between the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS and faith-based organizations in order to ensure the availability of prevention, treatment, and care for individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS. – The Daily Star
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