Rwanda Says No to Condoms in Prison

by Te-Ping Chen · 2010-02-19 08:29:00 UTC
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Rwanda would really like to fight HIV/AIDS in prison -- but not if doing so breaks the law. It sounds like a bizarre statement, and it is. But by continuing to deny prisoners condoms, that's what prison officials are effectively arguing.

Across the globe, a toxic mix of intravenous drug use, unprotected sex, prisoner self-tattooing and lack of health care makes prisons lethal breeding grounds for HIV/AIDS. And despite over a decade of recommendations from the World Health Organization and UNAIDs, when it comes to offering prisoners condoms, most systems around the world are still falling short.

In most sub-Saharan African countries, data on HIV/AIDS in prison is not so much riddled with holes as virtually nonexistent. Those pockets of information that do exist, though, are chilling. According to 2006 data, for example, fully 15% of imprisoned men and 17% of imprisoned women in Kigali Central Prison are HIV-positive. In Mauritius, HIV prevalence among prisoners is nearly 50 times that of the general adult population.

A considerable number of resource have been deployed in the past few months to draw attention to the issue of HIV/AIDS in prison, including an initiative launched this past November, the African HIV in Prisons Partnership Network (which involves the World Bank, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS). But while Rwandan authorities have likewise just unrolled an effort to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in prison, condoms for prisoners are still being left of their list.

Why? Well, because since sex behind bars is illegal, the logic goes, condoms are, too. They're not alone in that argument: prison officials in the United States, too (where condoms are likewise unavailable for the overwhelming majority of inmates), have adamantly made the case. But that's akin to arguing that we shouldn't support drug rehabilitation or treatment programs inside or out of prison -- because, after all, drug use is illegal.

But prison sex happens, and without condoms, so does HIV/AIDS.

It's easy to think that prisons constitute their own hermetic environment, sealed off from the rest of society. It's also not the case. Here in the United States, for example, over 95% of prisoners will someday again be released. Refusing to take advantage of any number of practical ways to fight HIV/AIDS in prison not only puts prisoners' lives in jeopardy, but the rest of any society's, as well.

Photo Credit: Hi! Rorro

Te-Ping Chen Te-Ping Chen is a freelance writer and U.S. Truman Scholar whose writing has appeared in the Nation Magazine, the South China Morning Post magazine, Le Soir, and Slate.com.
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