CALIFORNIA: Condoms in Jail: Outlawed HIV Prevention

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

CALIFORNIA: Condoms in Jail: Outlawed HIV Prevention

Oakland Tribune (12.18.06) - Friday, December 22, 2006
Cheryl Winkelman

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently vetoed legislation that would have required the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) to permit nonprofit groups and public health agencies to distribute condoms and dental dams in correctional facilities.

According to Kate Monico Klein, director of San Francisco County's Forensic AIDS Project, the county is one of just seven US jurisdictions that gives condoms to prisoners. The county sidesteps the state law by including condoms as part of a safe-sex education materials given to inmates, she said. Two to 5 percent of the 2,100 inmates in the five county jails are HIV-positive, Klein said. Health officials began giving condoms to inmates in 1986.

Inmates who have sex are breaking state law, "so why are we giving you the tool to break the law?" asked Margot Bach, DOCR spokesperson. Condoms are not permitted in any of California's 18 federal prisons, and many county jails - including those in Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and Alameda counties - ban them as well. "We don't want to encourage sex between inmates," said Capt. Casey Nice of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.

In November, the National Minority AIDS Council called for condom distribution in correctional facilities to stem the impact of AIDS on the black community. US Department of Justice statistics indicate that in 2005, 40 percent of inmates serving a sentence of more than one year were black. African Americans comprise 47 percent of Americans living with HIV, CDC reports.
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