HIV, prisoners, and human rights.

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.

Evaluating Human Rights Advocacy on Criminal Justice and Sex Work.

Between October 2011 and September 2013, we conducted research on the use, by police and/or prosecutors, of condom possession as evidence of intent to engage in prostitution-related offenses. We studied the practice in five large, geographically diverse cities in the U.S. To facilitate our advocacy on this issue, conducted concurrent to and following our research, we developed an advocacy framework consisting of six dimensions: (1) raising awareness, (2) building and engaging coalitions, (3) framing debate, (4) securing rhetorical commitments, (5) reforming law and policy, and (6) changing practice. Using a case study approach, we describe how this framework also provided a basis for the evaluation of our work, and discuss additional considerations and values related to the measurement and evaluation of human rights advocacy.

Access to condoms in U.S. prisons.

Despite overwhelming evidence that condom use prevents the transmission of HIV, U.S. prison officials continue to limit the availability of condoms to incarcerated persons. Concern for transmission of HIV in prison and in the community upon prisoners'release has increased the interest of some policymakers in the issue. In this article, Megan McLemore addresses security concerns as well as human rights arguments in support of efforts to adopt a public health approach to harm reduction in U.S. prisons.