GORAKHPUR: Twenty-three inmates of Gorakhpur jail have been found to be HIV-positive, said jail administration, the finding coming soon after 58 people were declared HIVpositive in three villages of Unnao district’s Bangarmau tehsil, Uttar Pradesh.Most of the affected inmates are undertrials, the jail administration sources said.The cases were discovered during regular health camps held at the jail over the past several months. Screening was conducted under the supervision of the UP State AIDS Control Society (UPSACS), said Gorakhpur jail superintendent Ramdhani Mishra . “Health camps to examine the health of prisoners are organised from time to time, During the past several months, 23 inmates, including a woman, have tested HIV-positive,” he said. All of them are under treatment at the ART Centre in BRD Medical College. They get all their medicine and other medical help from the centre, he added. Mishra , however, couldn’t elaborate on the reason for the infection. “It is very difficult for us to know the source of infection. We can only say that they have been found HIV-positive during checkups.” According to prison department officials, 1,400 inmates of Gorakhpur jail have already been screened and 400 more are being examined.‘We hold health camps for awareness’IG (prisons) Pramod Kumar Mishra said an exercise to identify such patients was on across all UP prisons and a report on the findings would be forwarded to the state government. “We organise health camps for better awareness among these patients,” he said.Last month, Unnao’s Bangarmau tehsil hit the headlines when 58 residents of three villages tested HIV-positive at health camps organised locally in November and January. It was alleged that the infection had been caused by a quack who reportedly used infected syringes. The development triggered the health department into action while NACO and UPSACS officials rushed to the affected localities for awareness camps.