DOC/OS(XXXIII)/324c/II been able to go to work in the fields because they were too ill. Three of them had secondary infections in traumatic wounds on their limbs, which they had received during their daily work in the fields. None of these sick persons had received any treatment so far. Among the group of prisoners who came back from the fields while the delegation was still there, there were at least three whose poor state of health would have justified not going to work that day. Two of them had septic traumatic wounds on their feet and hands respectively, with serious local inflammation, and the third had a secondary infection on a post-operative wound after having had a bullet extracted from his right thigh. This surgical operation had been carried out only two months before. A woman was going through a bout of malaria with a temperature of 40°C, and was therefore lying in her cell. It appears that she had been in this state for 48 hours but had not been taken to see the doctor nor received any kind of treatment. The Special Rapporteur made sure that the patient was immediately taken to the infirmary to receive the emergency treatment that she needed. The prisoners' main complaint during their talk to the delegation was that they were forced to work even when they were unwell. At Masindi prison, the infirmary had a consulting room, a room for treatment and an observation room, but without either beds or mattresses. The nurse and his assistant who worked there lived in the housing for prison staff built a few meters from the infirmary. All the prison premises, including the infirmary, were new, as they had just been rebuilt. The prevalence of illnesses was similar to that of other prisons, with however a small number of cases of scabies. Of the 468 patients admitted to the infirmary during February 2002, 98 suffered from malaria, 59 from diarrhoea and 83 had respiratory infections. On the day of the delegation's visit, 24 prisoners had been found to be HIV positive. Prisoners complained of having to pay those who take them to hospital. They further explained that a prisoner with TB had to pay for his medicine. There had been 12 deaths in the prison in 2001 and seven since January 2002. There were in all three mentally ill people in prison, one of whom had been awaiting trial since 1993 The latter is said to have been taken to Kampala once where he underwent treatment for a year. After this he was brought back to Masindi, in spite of his health not having improved much. The prison of Mbale, which serves the entire eastern region, has an infirmary. However, the premises are dilapidated and consist of only a small office, in which not even a bed would fit, and a room for hospitalization that is also used as a consulting room; there are no drugs. Two qualified nurses work there full-time and a doctor, who is housed by the prison, works there whenever required. The prison superintendent often buys prescriptions for very urgent cases himself, as the infirmary is always running out of drugs. Although there were 811 inmates in this prison on the day of the delegation's visit, the infirmary staff had no statistics on the number of cases of AIDS in the prison and was not even capable of making an estimate. Two sick persons had been hospitalized in the regional hospital, one with tuberculosis and the other with meningitis. The detainees told the delegation that there were many cases of prisoners who needed to be operated but who did not have the means to pay for treatment. This was notably the case of a 32-year-old prisoner with a large bilateral inguinal hernia, who had been referred for an operation since 12 October 2001. According to the prisoners, seven inmates suffered from hernias. Prisoners complained that whenever the doctor recommends special diets, warders at the reception would give their own conditions for allowing the prisoners have the special 25