The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

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"As advocates, we’ve always known anecdotally that HIV was spread in prisons," Graham said. "But without solid proof, it was hard to make a case for prevention measures. Hopefully we can use this study not only in Georgia but around the country."

The report, "HIV Transmission Among Male Inmates in a State Prison System - Georgia, 1992-2005," was published April 21 in the CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.

In October 2005, the Georgia Department of Correction housed 44,990 male inmates with 856 — nearly 2 percent — reported to be HIV positive. Of that 856 total, 780 (or 91 percent) were infected before incarceration, and 732 (or 86 percent) were black, the report states.

From July 1988 through February 2005, a total of 88 male inmates were HIV negative when sentenced but then contracted HIV while in prison, according to the report.

Not surprisingly, the CDC identified sex between male inmates and sharing needles for tattoos and drug use as the most common risk behaviors for HIV inside prison walls.

"CDC recommends that HIV education, testing, and prevention counseling be made available to populations at increased behavioral or clinical risk for HIV infection, including inmates in correctional facilities," the report said.

CDC epidemiologist Patrick Sullivan, who led the study, noted that the Georgia Department of Corrections offered voluntary HIV testing during part of the study period, from 2003 until 2005, but then stopped it. The CDC is recommending the prison system re-implement the voluntary HIV testing, Sullivan added.

"We know that most people who find they are HIV positive take steps to reduce risk to their partners," Sullivan said. "One-third of inmates said they used some kind of barrier — like rubber gloves or plastic wrap — which shows an interest on their part to want to have protected sex."

The CDC report notes that condoms are provided to some inmates in state prisons in Mississippi and Vermont and jails in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

"Departments of corrections without condom distribution programs should assess relevant state laws, policies, and circumstances to determine the feasibility and benefits and risks of implementing such programs," the report states.

But Yolanda Thompson, public affairs director for the state Department of Corrections, said Georgia has no immediate plans to implement any new HIV initiatives, although the CDC study may spark future discussions.

"What this study will enable us to do is to identify and broaden our definition of public safety and public health," she said.

‘Contraband’ condoms

Thompson confirmed that condoms are considered "contraband" in Georgia prisons and sex between inmates is forbidden by both state law and prison policy.

But according to Graham of AIDS Survival Project, the state needs to reconsider its policies in light of the CDC findings.

"This study really challenges the corrections officials to recreate policy that will make sense in terms of protecting public health," he said.

John Cole Vodicka, director of the Prison & Jail Project, a statewide prisoners’ rights advocacy group, agreed that simply banning sex in prison is ineffective.

"You’d have more success stopping HIV in prison by having better education, better protection like condoms, and more attention to human rights than you would if you just said ‘no sex allowed,’" he said.

© 2006 The Southern Voice | A Window Media Publication
http://www.southernvoice.com/2006/4-28/news/localnews/gaprisons.cfm