Providing testing for inmates at high risk for hepatitis C is one thing, but educating them about the disease and a healthy lifestyle once they know they have tested positive is another.

In Colorado, a non-profit hepatitis education project that has been working in the community for 10 years, has now begun to focus – like many corrections agencies – on offenders with the disease.

“One of the things we noticed is we were getting hundred of letters from inmates across the country saying ‘I need information. I have Hep C, what should I be doing?'” said Kathy Jensen of the Hepatitis C Connection in Denver, Colorado.

With prevalence rates estimated to be between 12 and 35 percent among inmates, testing and treating for hepatitis C has become a prominent correctional health care issue.

The Hepatitis C Connection, with a community education and outreach program already in place, recently decided to try to create educational opportunities specifically for the offender population.

Jensen recently spoke to The Corrections Connection about the group's efforts and the issues around hepatitis C in prisons and jails.

Q: What does the Hepatitis C Connection do?

Jensen: The project Hep C Connection is a non profit. We've been here for 10 years and we have a help line where people can get information, support groups and a national database of support groups. We also have a contract with our state to do public awareness campaigns and educational trainings.

Q: What are the problems that a Hep C inmates faces in jail?

Jensen: They cycle out quickly and what we found in Colorado is some jails have some resources to test people and some don't; it depends on what their budget is or, it's very inconsistent. What's interesting is a lot of inmates assume they are getting tested and they all think they are getting tested.
You can understand because it is very expensive to treat and the fact that it is a six month to two-year process and not being able to complete it [is a factor.]

Q: How has your organization responded to requests of offenders who are hepatitis C positive?

Jensen: We were concerned that [their time in jail] was a teachable moment and an opportunity to educate them about Hep C. We worked with some other agencies to create a video for inmates [and staff called “Hep C: Inside & Out”]. We went in thinking we'd get background footage but there were a lot of inmates who were willing to share their stories and we also had some street based efforts going on.

We talk about the disease, how it is spread, how you protect yourself? But some already know they have it, so there's a lot of information about how to take care of yourself. We produced the video and now we are trying to get it out.

Q: How did you get information and content for the video?

Jensen: We did focus groups and a survey. With the focus groups, we did some with those who are current or recently in recovery, injection drugs users and just about all of them had been in jail. So we talked to them about what should be in the video what kind of information did they get while incarcerated. We got a strong response and people really needed it. And, it
something people can relate to and something that gets their attention. It can be a serious disease.

Then we did a survey with the American Jail Association asking them if they were aware of other videos and got some positive feedback. There were HIV videos, but people weren't aware of many resources for hepatitis C.

Being focused on jails, it says here's where you can go [for information]. Every state has a coordinator and you can go there to find the resources. We say pretty plainly that not all jails can afford testing. Most states have some sort of protocol and we also heard the federal Bureau of Prisons was coming out with recommendations and people were awaiting what they would come out with.

Q: What do you hope people will get out of the video? What are the next steps?

Jensen: We have applied for a local grant to do the evaluation piece. Now we are working to get 1,000 inmates and people in community corrections to view it to find out what they learned, will they get tested, will they get further medical care and have we changed their behaviors.

It's really important and anything we can do to support corrections in doing that. They are so overextended, so any way we can do that and [decrease] the risk to staff too.

For more information, visit the Hepatitis C Connection website
http://www.hepc-connection.org/index.html
Or email: kjensen@hepc-connection.org