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| Sheriff Considers Expanding Condom Distribution |
| By latimes.com |
| Published: 06/30/2009 |
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L.A. County sheriff considers expanding condom distribution in jail Activist Ron Osorio has been giving condoms to inmates almost weekly since 2001 to help deter the spread of HIV/AIDS. By Ari B. Bloomekatz June 29, 2009 Inmates call Ron Osorio "West Hollywood" because the words are printed on the cream-colored cloth bag he carries inside Men's Central Jail each Friday. The bag is filled with 300 Lifestyle condoms. Osorio, who works for the nonprofit Center for Health Justice, has been visiting the jail almost weekly since 2001, when Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca approved a small but groundbreaking program that allowed the health group to pass out prophylactics to inmates in a segregated unit for gay men. "We go to the dorms and a guy hands out the bagged lunches. There's another guy that hands out the juice. . . . and I stand between those two as they go through the line. They get their lunch, they get a condom, and they get their juice," Osorio said. Not all inmates take condoms, but Osorio talks to those who do about the risks of HIV/AIDS. He tells them that, despite what he's handing them, it's forbidden to have sex in jail. Osorio has distributed more than 43,655 condoms to inmates since the project began, but said that is not nearly enough. The transfer rate of HIV/AIDS in jail continues to be high, he said, and the public is at risk because once released, inmates carry the diseases back to their communities. Eight years after Baca first approved the program, the sheriff is pondering whether to expand it by doubling the number of condoms distributed to the 300 inmates within the segregated unit. His decision comes as a yearlong pilot condom distribution program at the California State Prison at Solano enters its eighth month. Health advocates say that a successful review of that program could lead to widespread distribution of condoms in prisons throughout the state. It would be one of the most aggressive measures in the nation's jails and prisons to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, experts say. Sheriff's officials acknowledge that the virus is a prominent problem in the jails. They spend about $2 million each year in federally refundable money on HIV/AIDS medication and identify about 65 new cases each month. On average there are about 1,400 people in L.A. County jails with HIV each year, said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department. 'There's a paradox Osorio, who was incarcerated for 19 months beginning in 1999, said that consensual sex in prisons is common. He said inmates often go to extreme and unsafe lengths for protection, using plastic wrap from their sandwiches, rubber gloves and empty candy wrappers during sex. "One condom per week is not enough," Osorio said. "To believe they're doing it one time, come on." According to a United Nations report published last year on HIV and AIDS in places of detention, about 1.9% of prisoners in the United States are known to be HIV-positive. The report also says the issue is international and calls for more education, efforts to reduce the supply of drugs in institutions, and condom distribution as a way to combat the diseases.Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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