HIV Women In Prison
...ng the prison system. In many countries, many or most will not know their HIV status, and experience has shown that inmates knowledge of HIV is very little, unreliable and often based on street rumors, rather than the facts. Women that do go through the prison system whether they have HIV or not should have the unique opportunity to receive education on HIV. Education for women inmates on HIV should be tailored to the needs of the different age groups and professions specifically including those who engage in recreational sex. Trained staff should not shy away from open discussions on sexuality, condoms, safer forms of sex and other issues that women may never again have the opportunity to learn about. Counseling on testing should be given, and testing for HIV, offered to those in high-risk groups on a voluntary basis. For all these reasons, the educational needs of women prisoners regarding HIV/AIDS are different from the needs of male prisoners and the need for HIV prevention programs in women’s prisons may be even more pressing than in men’s prisons. Many prison systems still have not implemented education and prevention programs targeted specifically to female inmates. Some, including the Canadian federal prison system, are now developing such programs. In some systems, programs have been in place for many years. An example provided by D. Rothman states that at a provincial medium-security prison for women in Montreal, community input into information and prevention efforts started as early as 1987, after the first case of an HIV-infected woman in that prison became known. (Rothman, 1994, 163) These efforts have included education about HIV/AIDS for both staff and prisoners, access to anonymous HIV testing carried out by outside community-health clinics, and cooperation with external resources for medical and psychosocial support. Research on HIV and AIDS on risk factors among prisoners started in January of 1988. As a result of these efforts, a climate of tolerance replaced the initial reactions of fear and discrimination against HIV-infected prisoners According to D. Rothman, underlying many of the problems that women in prison encounter is the fact that “the majority of women in prisons are members of social groups marginalized not only on the basis of gender, but also on the basis of race, class, sexual orientation, disability, substance use, and/or occupation as sex workers.” (Rothman, 2000, pg 163) Female inmates often have more health problems than male inmates. Furthermore Rothman adds that many suffer from chronic health conditions resulting from lives of poverty, drug use, family violence, sexual assault, adolescent pregnancy, malnutrition, and poor preventive health care. (Rothman, 2000, 161) Many HIV-positive women do not receive the diagnostic and treatment services that could benefit them as early as do HIV-positive men. Among the reasons for this is that women are often unaware of having been exposed to HIV by their sexual or drug-using partners and as a result do not seek counseling, HIV testing, and care and treatment. Second, the needs of HIV-positive women differ from those of men, and social and community support are often less frequently available and less accessible. As a consequence, women are often less educated than men about HIV infection and AIDS and do not have the support structures they need. Third, disease manifestations attributable to HIV infection or AIDS are often different in women which has led to poor recognition or delays in their diagnosis. Therefore, women who are infected have often been diagnosed as infected or having AIDS later than men. In the past there have been cases where guards and medical staff have blocked inmates from getting their vital drug regimens, sometimes for months at a time, or have prescribed regimens that are dangerous. Such negligence can lead to drug resistance. It can also lead to death. According to Christine Doyle a research coordinator for Amnesty International, “We routinely are getting letters from inmates who are not receiving proper medication”. (Doyle, 1992, 1) The mistreatment appears to be widespread and may affect thousands of inmates. It may also be illegal. The Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners must receive adequate medical care. The 1976 decision in Estelle v. Gamble states, "Deliberate ...