NCJ Number
162009
Journal
Public Health Reports Volume: 109 Issue: 5 Dated: (September-October 1994) Pages: 615-625
Date Published
1994
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This report estimates the magnitude of the HIV problem in prisons and jails, describes the major strategies for HIV prevention among inmates, defines structural barriers to the implementation of certain preventive strategies, and identifies factors that should be considered in serious attempts to reduce high-risk behavior in current and in former inmates.
Abstract
High rates of HIV infection among jail and prison inmates suggest that HIV prevention efforts should focus on incarcerated populations. Overcrowding, the high prevalence of injection drug use, and other high-risk behaviors among inmates create a prime opportunity for public health officials to affect the course of the HIV epidemic if they can remedy these problems. Yet, along with the opportunity, there are certain obstacles that correctional institutions present to public health efforts. The various jurisdictions have differing approaches to HIV prevention and control. Whether testing should be mandatory or voluntary, whether housing should be integrated or segregated by HIV serostatus, and whether condoms, bleach, or clean needles should be made available to the inmates, are issues hotly debated by public health and correctional officials. Even accurate assessment of risk-taking within the institutions leads to controversy, since asking questions could imply acceptance of the very behaviors correctional officials are trying to prevent. Education and risk-reduction counseling are the least controversial and most widely used modes of prevention, but the effectiveness of current prevention efforts in reducing HIV transmission in this high-risk population is largely undetermined. 2 tables and 59 references