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Prison health - HIV, drugs and TB
 
More on the health of prisoners
 
  
arrowPrisons, human rights and the need for harm reduction 
 Speech given by First Lady of Georgia, Sandra Roeloffs at conference on prison health protection on 30 October 2009 
   
arrowPress release, 29 October 2009 - The unintentional punishment 
 Health experts in Europe agree on recommendations to reduce communicable diseases in prisons. 
   
arrowFact sheet on prison health – HIV, drugs and TB 
 A prison sentence is not always over upon release from prison. Individuals, who are healthy on entry, have a high risk of leaving prison infected with HIV, TB or with an addiction to drugs. 
   
arrowConference on prison health protection 
 An international conference in Madrid on 29-31 October 2009 will address the main health problems related to major communicable diseases in prisons and will examine best practices in implementing prison health services. 
   
arrowPoem by a prisoner 
 The story of a drug addict, 30 years old – an addict since the age of 15. He wrote this poem during his seventh time in prison – just before departing to serve an 8 year sentence for robbery. 
   
 

A prison hospital At any given time, over two million people are imprisoned in penal institutions in Europe. Prisons are extremely high-risk environments for transmission of infectious diseases because of overcrowding, poor nutrition, limited access to health care, continued illicit drug use and unsafe injecting practices, unprotected sex and tattooing. If prisons are not to become a breeding ground for infectious diseases, prevention and treatment must be an integral part of the penal system.

Three major issues challenging prison health are HIV, drug use and TB. Hepatitis C and sexually transmitted diseases also threaten the health of prisoners.

  • An estimation of 20-40% of those who enter prison have a drug problem, although much higher percentages have been reported.
  • A high proportion of injecting drug users in prison share needles with a high risk of transmitting HIV and other infectious diseases.
  • Due to overcrowding and poor nutrition, tuberculosis rates in many prisons are 10 to 100 times higher than in the community outside.
  • TB strains transmitted in prisons are more likely to be drug-resistant or associated with HIV co-infection.

Prisons are a breeding ground for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, because of: 

  • Injection of drugs in the absence of sterile syringes 
  • Sharing other injection equipment (water, spoons, etc.) and razors, toothbrushes: hepatitis C and B
  • Unsafe practices like tattooing, piercing, and scarifications
  • Unprotected sexual relations: voluntary (circumstances), prostitution, rapes
  • Accidental punctures with infected needles: searches in the cells
  • Unsafe medical equipment (dental, medical, gynecological)