NCJ Number
192439
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 45 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2001 Pages: 673-690
Date Published
December 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article highlights the need for the corrections community to address the special needs of female inmates infected with the HIV/AIDS virus and to acknowledge the impact of HIV/AIDS on all imprisoned women in the United States.
Abstract
Although no segment of the incarcerated population is immune to HIV/AIDS infection, an alarming number of female inmates have tested positive for HIV at higher rates than male inmates. Since women in prison have different treatment needs and problems than their male counterparts, the impact of such inmates on correctional health care services is a potentially critical issue that confronts correctional managers and correctional health service administrators. Because HIV compromises the body's ability to fight infection and resist disease, those who are infected, whatever their stage of the disease, must be removed from inmates with contagious illnesses and other conditions that might overwhelm their suppressed immune systems; however, when segregation is used to isolate HIV-infected inmates, these inmates should not be denied services and programming available to the general prison population. Counseling issues must be handled with much care and sensitivity, depending on whether the inmate is uninfected but at risk for HIV infection, HIV-positive but asymptomatic, or has full-blown HIV infection or AIDS. Institutional policies must be developed and reconsidered in the areas of diagnosing, managing, and treating HIV infection. Additional policy development and implementation will be necessary in the areas of staff training and education, inmate counseling, pretest and posttest counseling, voluntary testing, medical parole, and discharge and aftercare services. Infection control policies will be necessary for dentists, nurses, physicians, and security and treatment staff. 48 references