NCJ Number
194274
Journal
The Prison Journal Volume: 82 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2000 Pages: 19-49
Date Published
March 2002
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This study used an integrated theoretical framework, which merges the importation and deprivation models of inmate behavior, to explain intraprison high-risk HIV transmission behavior.
Abstract
Data show that high risk HIV transmission behaviors occur inside prisons, and there is little doubt that intraprison HIV transmission occurs. What is not well understood is what determines whether high-risk HIV transmission behaviors occur and how they can be prevented inside prison. The current study used a mailed inmate questionnaire to solicit the inmate perspective on some of these matters. Questions delved into the preprison and in-prison experiences and behaviors of inmates. The intent of the survey was to gain some knowledge about whether high-risk HIV transmission activities were more a product of importation or in response to deprivation. These components constituted the integrated process theory of intraprison HIV transmission, and the answers to the survey questions were used to test, albeit imperfectly, the theoretical framework previously outlined. A total of 121 (44 percent of those that apparently reached inmates) were returned and deemed usable. The survey data indicated that sex and tattooing were the two most prevalent intraprison high-risk HIV-transmission behaviors and that the majority of high-risk behaviors in prison could be attributed to the deprivation model. Since deprivation and the conditions of confinement apparently explain much of the sex that occurs in prison, this suggests that intraprison sex could be prevented by changing the prison environment. Actively preventing HIV transmission inside prison will require the introduction of programs that contradict current correctional policies and acknowledgment by correctional officials that some inmate behaviors are not preventable, but the benefits of making the behaviors safer would be felt by society, not just those who reside in correctional facilities. 45 references and appended inmate survey