TY - JOUR
T1 - HIV, prisoners, and human rights
AU - Rubenstein, Leonard S.
AU - Amon, Joseph J.
AU - McLemore, Megan
AU - Eba, Patrick
AU - Dolan, Kate
AU - Lines, Rick
AU - Beyrer, Chris
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper and The Lancet Series on HIV and related infections in prisoners were supported by grants to the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health from: the National Institute on Drug Abuse; the Open Society Foundations; the United Nations Population Fund; the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, a National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded programme (1P30AI094189); and the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Australia. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. We thank Stijntje Dijk for her work on the literature search and review and for comments on drafts, to Tela La'Raine Love for writing the panel about the experience of a transgender prisoner, and to Fatima Hassan for her comments on the first draft. We also thank the peer reviewers for their comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/9/17
Y1 - 2016/9/17
N2 - Worldwide, a disproportionate burden of HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis is present among current and former prisoners. This problem results from laws, policies, and policing practices that unjustly and discriminatorily detain individuals and fail to ensure continuity of prevention, care, and treatment upon detention, throughout imprisonment, and upon release. These government actions, and the failure to ensure humane prison conditions, constitute violations of human rights to be free of discrimination and cruel and inhuman treatment, to due process of law, and to health. Although interventions to prevent and treat HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and drug dependence have proven successful in prisons and are required by international law, they commonly are not available. Prison health services are often not governed by ministries responsible for national public health programmes, and prison officials are often unwilling to implement effective prevention measures such as needle exchange, condom distribution, and opioid substitution therapy in custodial settings, often based on mistaken ideas about their incompatibility with prison security. In nearly all countries, prisoners face stigma and social marginalisation upon release and frequently are unable to access health and social support services. Reforms in criminal law, policing practices, and justice systems to reduce imprisonment, reforms in the organisation and management of prisons and their health services, and greater investment of resources are needed.
AB - Worldwide, a disproportionate burden of HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis is present among current and former prisoners. This problem results from laws, policies, and policing practices that unjustly and discriminatorily detain individuals and fail to ensure continuity of prevention, care, and treatment upon detention, throughout imprisonment, and upon release. These government actions, and the failure to ensure humane prison conditions, constitute violations of human rights to be free of discrimination and cruel and inhuman treatment, to due process of law, and to health. Although interventions to prevent and treat HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and drug dependence have proven successful in prisons and are required by international law, they commonly are not available. Prison health services are often not governed by ministries responsible for national public health programmes, and prison officials are often unwilling to implement effective prevention measures such as needle exchange, condom distribution, and opioid substitution therapy in custodial settings, often based on mistaken ideas about their incompatibility with prison security. In nearly all countries, prisoners face stigma and social marginalisation upon release and frequently are unable to access health and social support services. Reforms in criminal law, policing practices, and justice systems to reduce imprisonment, reforms in the organisation and management of prisons and their health services, and greater investment of resources are needed.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30663-8
DO - 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30663-8
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27427457
AN - SCOPUS:84986333955
VL - 388
SP - 1202
EP - 1214
JO - The Lancet
JF - The Lancet
SN - 0140-6736
IS - 10050
ER -