Essay about Hiv and Aids in Prisons

For over centuries, the only form of punishment and discouragement for humans is through the prison system. Because of this, these humans or inmates, are sentenced to spend a significant part of their life in a confined, small room. With that being said, the prison life can leave a remarkable toll on the inmates life in many different categories. The first and arguably most important comes in the form of mental health. Living in prison with have a great impact on the psychological part of your life. For example, The prison life is a very much different way of life than what us “normal” humans are accustomed to living in our society. Once that inmate takes their first step inside their new society, their whole mindset on how to live and communicate changes. The inmate’s psychological beliefs about what is right and wrong are in questioned as well as everything else they learned in the outside world. In a way, prison is a never ending mind game you are playing against yourself with no chance of wining. Other than the mental aspect of prison, family plays a very important role in an inmate’s sentence. Family can be the “make it or break it” deal for a lot of inmates. It is often said that “when a person gets sentenced to prison, the whole family serves the sentence.” Well, for many inmates that is the exact case. While that prisoner serves their time behind bars, their family is on the outside waiting in anticipation for their loved ones to be released. In a way, the families

These women need regular medical surveillance even for the minor things. According to Cynthia Chandler and Carol Kingery, “The dramatic increase in imprisonment in the United States has been accompanied by epidemic rates of HIV among prisoners. Moreover, women currently incarcerated in the U.S. suffer disproportionately higher rates of HIV infection than do free people and male prisoners.” These women need counseling and therapy especially if they have cancer, HIV/ AIDS, or mental illnesses. This neglect can be extremely fetal. Many women have already died because of this; we do not want the numbers to increase. Proper treatment is necessary.

Proceedings of The National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2009 University of Wisconsin La-Crosse La-Crosse, Wisconsin April 16 - 18, 2009

These infectious diseases include: the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and Hepatitis C (McVie, 2001). Research shows that inmates are seven to ten times more likely to be carriers of HIV (McVie, 2001). Moreover, inmates are five times higher than the general population to be infected with AIDS (Krebs, 2002). Not only are these diseases spread through unsafe sex or rape, it can be implanted through needles and prison tattoos (McVie, 2001; Krebs, 2002).

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is HIV that develops into AIDS, which is Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This virus starts to break down white blood cells, as a result the immune system starts to deteriorate and our greatest shield cannot fight any longer (Mayo Clinic, 2016). The CDC (2015) states, that over 1.2 million people live with HIV in the United States and most who are infected are oblivious of their disease. Healthy people 2020 has declared HIV a public health crisis in the United States, and continues to sweep the nation with more than 500,000 new cases each year (HealthyPeople2020,2016).

Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means

Throughout the years, the United States criminal justice system has been constantly incarcerating individuals who endure from a severe mental illness. People who suffer from serious mental illness are doubtlessly to be discovered in prison. There is a significant amount of mentally ill offenders that are placed in the state and federal institutions. The mentally ill are overpopulating the prisons. The criminal justice system is a deficiency for those who can profit more from the help of mental health treatment center or psychiatric hospital by sending individuals to correctional facilities or prisons. Today’s jails and prisons are being labeled as the new mental health hospitals for the mentally ill offenders. Commonly in today’s society, it generally takes other individuals who are willing to educate and support the mentally ill person into becoming successful in life.

Finally, a concern with inadequate health care in prisons is that when prisoners are released, they will spread any contagious diseases and illnesses. They may also leave without having full control of their mental illnesses and that could compound into even larger issues when no longer incarcerated, as their access to society is not restricted.

The minimum security is federal prison camps adjacent to other federal prisons near military bases. Male prisoners who need only minimum security are set up in camps and those who will be transitioned [Passive voice] back into society and served their sentence will be set-up in a halfway house.

Having poor heath care within the prison system is something that is very dangerous. It can lead to things such as accidental deaths, worsening pre-existing conditions, and conditions occurring that could have been prevented if the proper care was

As mentioned above the spread of HIV among inmates not only happens within prison facilities but out in society too. There is a growing concern with inmates returning or first time entering prisons who are HIV positive. Many HIV infected people are known drug users that live their live mainly on the streets. They are also commonly the ones who use drugs intravenously, or who participate in unprotected sex not only on the streets but in prison as well. When you have people living life on the streets and strung out on drugs they are more likely going to end up in jail or prison because of their habits (Cotten-Oldenburg, et al., 1997). Women are highly susceptible to contract HIV when they are involved with being sexually promiscuous on the streets.

It is common knowledge that the American prison system has grown exponentially in the last few decades. The prison population within the last forty years has risen by two million inmates. Multiple factors such as overcrowding and cost cutting have also decreased the quality of life within prisons by an order of magnitude. With this rising statistic, it becomes increasingly urgent to understand the effect of incarceration on our prisoners and whether the reformation process is actually doing more harm than good.

Under those circumstances, prisoner welfare often remains neglected and overlooked. Society needs to become concerned with not only the growing numbers of HIV inmates, but the potential spread within their communities. Prisoners live in a high risk environment that makes them susceptible to come in contact with the HIV disease. This exposure can come through the use of drugs, tattooing, sexual behaviors, and inadequate health care. Although prisons do provide HIV testing when inmates enter the facility it is against human rights to expose the results of this testing due to patient confidentiality. As a result, many HIV inmates go undetected until something bad happens and treatment is needed. Plus, inmates live in a constant state of violence

Prisons have many policies set in place to help aid inmates’ with adjusting to prison life. No matter what policies are set in place to help aid inmates they will always have a hard time especially for first timers. According to Frank Schmalleger and John Ortiz Smykla (2009) new inmates face major problems because of the loss of liberty, lack of material possessions, the depravation of materials and services, the lack of heterosexual relationships, and feeling unsecured. I think that inmates can be helped with the adjustment process by initiating and enforcing a program to deal with such issues. I think I would eliminate policies that are designed to make prison life unpleasant and concentrate more on policies that help inmates progress in their educational and rehabilitation programs. One policy that is very important to inmates is to feel safe in their prison environment. As a result there have been many debates on the rights of the inmates. I think the most important policy I would enforce is educational programs that will

HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. A member of a group of viruses called retroviruses, HIV infects human cells and uses the energy and nutrients provided by those cells to grow and reproduce. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease in which the body's immune system breaks down and is unable to fight off certain infections, known as "opportunistic infections," and other illnesses that take advantage of a weakened immune system. When a person is infected with HIV, the virus enters the body and lives and multiplies primarily in the white blood cells. These are the immune cells that normally protect us from disease.