Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Medical overview
- 2 Cognitive disorders in people living with HIV disease
- 3 General principles of pharmacotherapy for the patient with HIV infection
- 4 Mood disorders and psychosis in HIV
- 5 Suicidal behavior and HIV infection
- 6 Anxiety disorders and HIV disease
- 7 General issues in hospital HIV psychiatry
- 8 HIV and people with serious and persistent mental illness
- 9 Psychotherapy
- 10 HIV and substance use disorders
- 11 Psychiatric issues in pediatric HIV/AIDS
- 12 Uninfected children of parents with HIV
- 13 Psychological issues faced by gay men
- 14 Women and HIV
- 15 Couples
- 16A HIV and cultural diversity
- 16B African Americans
- 16C Latinos and HIV disease
- 16D One heart, two spirit, and beyond: HIV and the people of the First Nations
- 17 HIV in prison populations
- 18 Legal and ethical issues
- 19 Psychiatrist as caregiver
- Appendix I HIV Counselling checklist for physicians
- Index
- References
17 - HIV in prison populations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Medical overview
- 2 Cognitive disorders in people living with HIV disease
- 3 General principles of pharmacotherapy for the patient with HIV infection
- 4 Mood disorders and psychosis in HIV
- 5 Suicidal behavior and HIV infection
- 6 Anxiety disorders and HIV disease
- 7 General issues in hospital HIV psychiatry
- 8 HIV and people with serious and persistent mental illness
- 9 Psychotherapy
- 10 HIV and substance use disorders
- 11 Psychiatric issues in pediatric HIV/AIDS
- 12 Uninfected children of parents with HIV
- 13 Psychological issues faced by gay men
- 14 Women and HIV
- 15 Couples
- 16A HIV and cultural diversity
- 16B African Americans
- 16C Latinos and HIV disease
- 16D One heart, two spirit, and beyond: HIV and the people of the First Nations
- 17 HIV in prison populations
- 18 Legal and ethical issues
- 19 Psychiatrist as caregiver
- Appendix I HIV Counselling checklist for physicians
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Although the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in prison populations varies greatly in different countries (see Table 17.1), it is significantly higher than in the general population. For example:
in the USA, the AIDS case rate in prisons is more than five times the rate in the general population (Maruschak, 2004)
in Canada, the prevalence of HIV in prisons is 10 times the rate in the general population (Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, 2002).
In countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Europe, and North America, HIV prevalence among prisoners ranges from 3% based on a cross-sectional seroprevalence study in Senegal to 47% among a subpopulation of injecting drug-using prisoners in Spain (Stubblefield and Wohl, 2000).
The disproportionate burden of HIV disease in prison inmates is largely due to high-risk behaviors that individuals engaged in before being incarcerated. Most inmates with HIV became infected before coming to prison (DeCarlo and Zack, 1996). However, once in prison, inmates engage in high-risk behaviors such as unprotected sex, injecting drugs, and tattooing without sterile instruments, which promote the spread of the disease within correctional institutions (Braithwaite et al., 1996). This means that inmates require effective treatment for HIV as well as access to harm-reduction strategies that could reduce the risk of transmission. According to Braithwaite et al. (1996), prison officials in many European countries, Canada, Australia, and Brazil have begun to endorse harm-reduction strategies, such as condom and bleach distribution, and the provision of syringes, that could potentially reduce the spread of HIV among inmates.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- HIV and PsychiatryTraining and Resource Manual, pp. 283 - 292Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005