Condoms in Prisons?

The full article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/07/07/us/ap-us-california-prisons-condoms.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0#h[TASBih,2,AiiPho,TCsBtc,2]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California prisoners have unprotected sexual contact, forced or consensual, even if both are illegal, and this reality often leads to the spread of HIV and other diseases in prisons and in communities where felons are paroled.

One state lawmaker says it's time to give inmates a way to practice safe sex behind bars to reduce an infection rate that experts say is much higher than that of the general population.

The bill, AB999, passed the Assembly and is awaiting consideration in the state Senate. If it becomes law, California would be the second state behind Vermont, which has a fraction of the inmate population, to provide condoms to all prisoners. Canada, most of the European Union, Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa already take that step, according to legislative researchers.

Today, California state prisoners have very limited sanctioned access to condoms. Spouses and domestic partners are allowed to bring as many as 10 on overnight family visits with lower-level

offenders who qualify for the incentive program, said corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton. But the condoms must be accounted for and are not permitted outside visiting areas.

¶ Critics initially worried that handing out condoms would encourage an increase in voluntary or forced sexual activity, that the condoms could be used to smuggle or hide drugs and other contraband, or that they could be filled with bodily fluids and launched at prison or jail employees, an assault known as "gassing”

¶ The Vermont Department of Corrections has been making condoms available throughout its prison system since 1992. The department's health services director, Dr. Delores Burroughs-Biron, said the state's 2,200 inmates can request one condom at a time from a nurse.

¶ About 800 inmates in California State Prison, Solano, located about 30 miles southwest of the state capital, had access to free condoms in vending machines for a year starting in November 2008. Public health officials' report on the pilot program, published in September 2011, found few problems and recommended the program be expanded.

¶ The program has created no security issues, she said, while giving nurses a chance to counsel inmates and advise them that they should seek help if they are being coerced into having sex.

¶ In 2007 Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have allowed nonprofit and health organizations to provide condoms to state prisoners. But in his veto message, the Republican governor instructed the corrections department to test a condom distribution program in one prison.

The current bill awaits a Senate vote.  Given the fact that CA has a supermajority of Democrats in both chambers, this may very well pass, we’ll keep an eye on it

 I feel good about a bill like this because of the fact that this doesn't ignore the reality of sexual intercourse in prisons to the peril of the incarcerated persons and this investment will most likely see a decline in not only STDs but lowering the amount of people in the HIV wards in prisons. There was a bill to introduce this into federal prisons but the Republicans in Congress said it cost too much, I submit to you that the cost of ignoring this crisis is much more than the dollars and cents that make all the sense--or lack thereof to Republicans in Congress

 

Justice system, jails, Department of Corrections, Healthcare, Condoms, Prisons, Condoms in Prison, activism, barebacking, prison reform, Spencer Hamilton, LGBT health, prison healthcare system, Civil Rights, sex matters,