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AIDS in Prisons With infectious diseases such as hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) so prevalent in correctional settings, it is appropriate and timely that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) presented a workshop on the issue. "Infectious Disease in Corrections: A Centers for Disease Control Perspective" was moderated by Rob Lyerla, an epidemiologist for CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. (Cass 34). In the past 20 years, the jail people in the United States have grown more than threefold. The spectacular rise is largely due to the federal government's "War on Drugs. " In 1998, U. S. prisons and jails held more than 1. 8 million people, while six million people were under some form of criminal justice supervision. (Tewksbury 34).
People of color are excessively held in correctional facilities: African Americans and Hispanics formed almost 60 % of jail inmates in 1999. In 1999, about 12 % of black non-Hispanic men 25 - 29 years of age were imprisoned; the same year, just 1. 5 % of white men of the same age group were in prison. Thus, there is overwhelming evidence that the prison population is rising at a frightening rate and that people of color are excessively represented. (Tewksbury 38 - 39). According to Amy Khan, an epidemiologist for CDC's Hepatitis Division, current data on hepatitis B and C are incomplete and routine screening is not common in the correctional community. Khan noted that inmates have a history of behaviors both inside and outside correctional facilities that make them particularly vulnerable.
There is an estimated 1 percent of new cases per year in prisons -- 10 percent greater than in the general population. Thus, inmates are disproportionately infected with hepatitis. "Inmates engage in high-risk behaviors such as unprotected sex, homosexual sex, intravenous drug use and tattooing in prison, " Khan said. (Khan 410). Khan pointed out that federal prisons do not provide vaccinations and that only a handful of state systems do. Additionally, there are several missed opportunities for prevention. Khan suggested that correctional facilities establish re vaccination procedures to identify and treat chronic infection.
The key to prevention is educating staff and inmates, addressing addiction and considering policy changes, such as the distribution of condoms and bleaching solutions, and the regulation of tattoos. (Khan 415 - 420). After 20 years of learning about HIV/AIDS, Karma Krane, an epidemiologist for CDC's HIV Division, says there are still a lot of misperceptions and misinformation that exist in correctional facilities as well as in the general public. "There is no cure for HIV/AIDS, " Krane said. Therefore, she noted the need to provide inmates with information about prevention and treatment. According to Krane, 98 percent of STDs can be prevented by the use of condoms. And inmates are 8 percent to 10 percent more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population. "Education is essential to dispel the myths that exist about HIV/AIDS, both within prison walls and on the outside. " (Khan 420 - 422). Despite the significant portion of the population that either in the past or in the present engages in same-sex sexual activities, the popular perceptions and definitions of such remain focused on "deviance. " Studies of deviance, while a major emphasis in the social sciences, may have the consequence of reinforcing negative definitions and stereotypes.
With regard to the study of same-sex sexual activities in controlled environments (such as prison), this is a common concern. This is one reason that only a small body of literature is available addressing consensual sex in male prisons. It is important, however, to understand the contexts and conditions that give rise to situational homosexuality. The most notable early researcher to do so for the prison environment was Ibrahim, who argued that same-sex sexual activities in prison are most often the result of environmental influences, not inmates' actual social identities.
But nowadays social science is more interested in the consequences of such activities, which can cause AIDS. (Spiller 82). Social symptoms of prison behavior, like individual psychical symptoms, can be seen to derive from identity needs and to function as means of constructing, defending, performing, and / or consolidating the identities of a critical mass of individuals within a prison society. I do not mean to suggest that the problematic behavior constituting many social problems or failed solutions is recognized as identity-supporting by those engaged in it. Nor do I mean that the phenomena constituting social symptoms necessarily originally arise because of people seeking (even unconsciously) to support their identities. In some cases, like in prison, social problems persist simply because a sufficient number of people come to gain identity support from conditions or practices that may originally have been produced by other forces entirely.
Such secondary gain then turns these problems into social symptoms by causing a critical mass of people to act (or fail to act) in such a way as to perpetuate the problems. These actions in prison like drug consumption and sexual contacts can finally lead to AIDS infection. (Spiller 82). The complete isolation from the outside world make prisons different societies with their own norms. Some prisons forbid any pornographic magazines and hand drawn illustrations that depict nudity or sex. Pornography can act as a release method for prisoners to achieve their sexual desires through masturbation and fantasy, for instance. This isolation can lead inmates to disregard the norms of society and engage in deviant sexual behavior with other inmates. (Irwin, J. , & Cressey 55).
It is important to point out that only five states allow conjugal visits in their correctional facilities. It has been argued that these visits would lower the amount of same-sex sexual activity in prisons. An AIDS infected inmate being released become a grate social problem and thread for a society. Research suggests that being released from prison may indeed have a negative impact on disease progression when there is no post-release follow-up, making it a social problem, perhaps due to a lack of access to care in the community and lack of health insurance. Thus, there are potential health benefits for inmates who receive coordinated AIDS prevention, treatment, and care that is initiated inside the correctional facility and extends into the community once the inmate is released. (Hensley 3 - 4). The study of consensual sex in prisons is also important in regard to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Research is needed on the topic due to the threat of transmitting HIV and other diseases through unprotected sexual activity. By educating inmates on the dangers of unprotected sex, institutions can feasibly prevent or at least slow the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Scientists found the two most common practices reported by inmates to have changed due to the threat of HIV/AIDS are less sex altogether and more protected sex when available. Currently, only five correctional systems allow distribution of condoms within their facilities: Mississippi, New York City, San Francisco, Vermont, and Washington, D.
C. The need for condoms is obvious in correctional facilities throughout the United States, but administrators cannot seem to escape the contradiction of supplying condoms to inmates when sex is not permitted. (Ward 28). Routine testing for AIDS should be conducted on people who have used drugs by means of injection, selective medical conditions, a prior transfusion or transplant. He stressed that anyone with a history of drug use via injection should be tested because he or she is a high risk.
Each person tested also should receive general information about the disease and prevention. If a person tests positive, he or she should be referred to a support group and receive education on treatment and prevention. (Hensley 4). People of color also share a disproportionate burden of the, nation's ill health. The gap in health status between blacks and whites in the United States continues to widen, and initiatives continue to be developed to address the problem of health disparities. AIDS was one of six priority areas targeted to eliminate health disparities by Surgeon General David Satcher. The epidemiology of AIDS supports the need for treating this disease as a priority: as of 1999, non-Hispanic blacks represent 48 % of new AIDS cases and 52 % of all cases of HIV infection.
Ethnic and racial minorities constitute approximately 30 % of the United States population, yet they represented 62 % of those living with AIDS in 1999. (Nacci 31 - 36). These statistics suggest that correctional settings offer a significant venue for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care. When correctly implemented, these services have the potential to improve the health outcomes of members of racial / ethnic minority groups. Interventions in this setting can affect inmates, their families and partners, and the health of the general public. Such interventions are most effective under conditions that involve partnership among corrections, public health practice, academia, and community-based organizations. They develop a model approach to the problem of health differences by forging this type of collaboration.
It also presents preliminary findings based on disease screening and treatment data as an illustration of how mutual relationships can promote the decrease of racial and ethnic health disparities. (Cass 34). Words: 1, 476. Works Cited: Cass, V. (1994). HIV/AIDS in prisons: Final report of the expert committee on AIDS in prisons. Ontario: Author. Hensley, C. (2000 a).
Consensual homosexual activity in male prisons. Corrections Compendium, 26 (1), 1 - 4. Irwin, J. , & Cressey, D. (1962). Thieves, convicts and the inmate culture. Social Problems, 10 (1), 55. Khan, A.
Social Problems, Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath. 21 (3), 410 - 422. Nacci, P. , & Kane, T. R. (1983). Sex and sexual aggression in federal prisons.
Federal Probation, 47 (4), 31 - 36. Spiller, D. (1965). Prison: Sex and social structure. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company. Tewksbury, R. (1989 a).
Prison Sociology and Social Research, 74 (1), 34 - 39. Ward, D. (1965). Prison: Sex and social structure. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company.
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Research essay sample on Sexually Transmitted Diseases Centers For Disease Control
