Washington DC, Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 18:30 to 20:00. UNODC –
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime organize this Satellite
Session: “Turning the Tide: Not Without Prisons!”
Each year over 30 million men and women spend time in prisons and other
closed settings, of whom over one-third are pre-trial detainees. Virtually
all of them will return to their community, many within a few months to a
year.
Globally, the prevalence of HIV, sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis
B, C and tuberculosis in prison populations is 2 to 10 times and up to fifty
times higher than in the general population. HIV rates are particularly high
among women in detention. Risks affect prisoners, those working in prisons,
their family and the entire community.
For these reasons, it is essential to provide HIV interventions in these
settings, both for prisoners and for those employed by prison authorities.
However, access to HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes is often
lacking in prisons and other closed settings. Few countries implement
comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment and care programmes in prisons.
Many fail to link their programmes in prisons to the national AIDS,
tuberculosis or public health programmes. Many fail to provide adequate
occupational health services to staff working in prisons. In addition to
HIV risk behaviours, such as unsafe sexual activities and injecting drug
use, factors related to the prison infrastructure, prison management and the
criminal justice system also contribute to the vulnerability to HIV,
tuberculosis, and other health risks in prisons. These factors include
overcrowding, violence, poor prison conditions, corruption, denial, stigma,
lack of protection for vulnerable prisoners, lack of training of prison
staff, and poor medical and and social services.
