U.N. Wants Condoms, Syringes For Inmates

Condoms and clean syringes should be made available in prisons worldwide to try to curb the alarming spread of AIDS among inmates, a U.N. agency said Tuesday.

UNAIDS, which coordinates AIDS prevention for the United Nations, issued a report depicting prisons as potent incubators for the disease. The report stressed that the spread of AIDS among inmates is a problem for everyone because prison populations are not “permanently sealed off.”

The report said inmates engage in behavior that spreads AIDS: unprotected sex - especially males with males - and the sharing of drug paraphernalia.

Prisons should dispense condoms and supply clean syringes and needles, or at least bleach that could be used to sterilize syringes and needles, UNAIDS said.

Sexual contact between male inmates is common, according to UNAIDS figures. A 1993 survey in Rio de Janeiro suggested that 73 percent of prisoners had sex with other men. Similar surveys in Europe came out with lower figures.