HIV in Prisons

To the Editor, New York Times:

We applaud your attention to HIV/AIDS in prisons (“A Warning About AIDS in Prisons,” July 24 editorial). As the CDC reported, sexual transmission of HIV does occur in prisons. Condom distribution is long overdue and would impede the spread of the virus and save lives.

However, HIV prevention in prisons should be accompanied by high quality treatment for those infected. The majority of HIV positive prisoners do not contract the virus in prison; they enter prison already infected (1). This is because both incarceration and HIV disproportionately affect poor, marginalized, and minority communities. As the New York Times reported in a 2005 series investigating the largest prison health contractor in the US, the conditions of inmate healthcare—and HIV care specifically—are often deplorable.

Incarcerated populations cycle quickly between prisons and communities, and an estimated 25% of HIV positive individuals in the US pass through a correctional facility each year (2). Prisons, therefore, present a tremendous opportunity for public health officials to implement HIV prevention, treatment, and education for the communities most affected by the epidemic.

a medical student
a law student
a medical student

New York City, July 26, 2006

1. Spaulding et al. HIV in correctional facilities: a review. Clinical Infectious Disease. 2002 Aug 1;35(3):305-12.
2. Ibid.