More inmates join prison hunger strike

Jun 20, 2002
Agence France-Presse, VILNIUS

Some 7,000 inmates were refusing meals, up from 5,360 who launched the strike movement on June 11, said Interior Ministry spokesman Dainius Radzevicius.

"Inmates of Vilnius prison and of the women's prison in Panevezys joined the hunger strike, and prisoners in some temporary detention centers are also refusing meals," Radzevicius said.

The prisoners are demanding that there be no transfers of inmates from Alytus prison, where 222 of 1,900 inmates have contracted the virus that causes AIDS through intravenous drug use.

The Lithuanian Parliament has begun consideration of a special budget amendment to provide an additional 8 million litas ($2.18 million) to the country's underfunded prisons.

The government adopted a special program last week to fight drug use in prisons.

Lithuania has had one of the lowest HIV infection rates in Europe, but the prison outbreak has nearly doubled its number of HIV cases to 576 in the country of 3.5 million people.

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