HIV and Incarceration: Reviewing the Policy Issues

Among the most glaring health disparities in California is the disproportionate prevalence of HIV among individuals in the correctional system. These individuals are also disproportionately African-American and Latino and many experience repeated arrests and releases over their lifetimes. Interventions carried out during incarceration or post-release have the potential to impact not only the HIV positive inmates, but also the communities to which they return. This Policy Brief elucidates the problem and recommends policies that prisons and jails in California could undertake to reduce new infections and treat existing ones.