Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The Miami Herald, Inc.; a Knight Ridder publication. One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693 - Tuesday, December 10, 1996 Edition: Broward Section: Broward News Page: 6BR Word Count: 270
Herald Staff
Organizers of a yearlong pilot project in which prisoners taught fellow prisoners about HIV infection said Monday there's an urgent need for better behind-bars education and prevention.
Studies have found rates of HIV infection and AIDS rising steadily in Canada's prison population, along with growing rates of hepatitis and tuberculosis.
Bill Taylor, an inmate who helped coordinate the peer education program at Dorchester in southern New Brunswick, said the hardest part of the job was piercing the wall of myth and misinformation about AIDS and other communicable diseases.
"The biggest attitude was, `Well, I'm not gay, so I don't have to worry about it,' " Taylor said.
In a phone interview from Dorchester, Taylor said that through a combination of one-on-one counseling, workshops, newsletters and condom distribution, he and fellow inmates involved in the program got out the message that straight people can get HIV and sex isn't the only way the virus is transmitted.
The pilot project was financed by the Correctional Service of Canada and Health Canada and developed by AIDS New Brunswick. The first of its kind in Canada, the peer program was recommended in a 1994 study of AIDS in prisons.
"We know that, nationally, 159 inmates were known to be living with HIV or AIDS as of March 1996," said Caroline Ploem, author of the final report on the project.
"We know there has been a 46 percent increase in known cases between April 1994 and April 1996."
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