The call came in the wake of the discovery of 15 HIV cases in a correction home in Abha.

“Services provided to juvenile delinquents and prisoners should be thoroughly reviewed, as a number of negative aspects were detected in them,” an official source of the NSHR told Arab News.

He said the society had noted that the medical tests for prisoners were not done in a proper and studied manner.

The source called for providing medical care to the delinquents, given that other contagious diseases, including TB, were discovered in some prisons and correction homes.

“The prisoners should be protected against diseases, and the HIV carriers should be provided with the required medical care,” he said.

A local newspaper reported on Monday that three of the inmates at a reformatory in Abha, who were transferred to the general prison after reaching adulthood, tested HIV-positive.

Twelve underage inmates at the correction home who were checked after the discovery of the three cases were also found out to be carrying HIV.

The newspaper quoted the director of the home, Muhammad Mushabib Al-Shehri, as saying that blood samples had been taken from all the inmates, but the results had not come out yet. He said two of the inmates who were discovered to be carrying HIV had stayed at the home only for four months.

The director said HIV tests were only done for foreigners before they were admitted to the home. “We do not do this test for young Saudis, as they are not expected to be HIV-positive,” he said.

Al-Shehri said it was not possible that the three HIV carriers had spread the disease among other inmates, as they were closely watched around the clock for any bad conduct.

According to the newspaper, there are currently 51 inmates in the reformatory. This number fluctuates, as some of them are transferred to the general prison when they reach the maturity age.