California: Prison Condom Program Reports No Major Problems

The prison-based condom-access program at the California State Prison in Solano is going smoothly, prison officials said recently. Concerns that condoms would be used as weapons or as a hiding place for drugs have not borne out in practice since the one-year pilot began in November, said Terry Thornton, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson.

The program was approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger despite controversy over distributing condoms to inmates in prison, where having sex is illegal.

It costs about $25,000 per year to provide medical care to one HIV-positive inmate, while the provision of condoms costs a fraction of that, said Julie Lifshay, research and evaluation manager for Centerforce, a prisoner support and advocacy group. Based in California, Centerforce trains San Quentin inmates as peer educators to prevent HIV/AIDS.

Inmates are allowed one packaged condom at a time, Thornton said. The condoms are dispensed through seven machines in Facility II at the prison, where 1,000 inmates are housed.

The Center for Health Justice is funding the pilot and purchased the condom machines, which are re-stocked once a week with up to 144 condoms, said Mary Sylla, CHJ's interim executive director. The HIV rate among inmates is at least five times higher than that of the general population, she said.

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