Two-thirds of Russian prisoners seriously ill: official

"Over 120,000 prisoners suffer from mental conditions, 35,000 are HIV (news - web sites) positive, over 58,000 have tuberculosis, 55,000 are alcoholics and 86,000 are drug addicts," Vladimir Yalunin, chief of the ministry's penal department, was quoted as saying by Interfax. 

"Prisons admit some 30,000 tuberculosis sufferers a year," Yalunin said, assuring however that improved medical care -- sponsored in part by 38-million-dollars from the World Bank (news - web sites) -- slashed the number of incarcerated active sufferers from 100,000 to 58,700. 

According to Yalunin, Russia's prison population stands at 777,000. It was estimated at 820,000 as of October last year. 

Russia has taken stuttering steps towards revamping its criminal code, introducing alternative sentencing for crimes in a bid to cut down on the overcrowding which plagues one of the largest penitentiary systems in the world. 

With 628 prisoners for every 100,000 inhabitants, Russia has the world's third highest incarceration rate in the world -- behind the Cayman Islands and the United States, which has the highest rate of 686, according to a January 2003 study published by the International Center for Prison Studies.