Human Rights Watch writes to urge the Governor to sign and enact into law Assembly Bill 1334: the Inmate and Community Public Health and Safety Act, which was passed by the California legislature on September 6. This bill would help prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases by allowing nonprofit and public health agencies to distribute condoms in California prisons.
AB 1334 presents California with the opportunity to act as an example to other states in HIV/AIDS prevention and human rights. Los Angeles and San Francisco county jails have long acknowledged that providing condoms is critical to protecting the lives and health of prisoners and their sex partners, and have distributed condoms for years. Indeed, San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey has expressed his strong support for legislation allowing condom access in prison, emphasizing both the government’s legal obligation to protect prisoners from harm and the public health benefits to all Californians of preventing HIV transmission among prisoners. According to the California Department of Health Services, the vast majority of Californians also agree that distributing condoms in prison is important to prevent HIV.
International human rights instruments establish that prisoners are entitled to the same standard of HIV/AIDS information and services available in the outside world, including access to adequate measures to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. International and domestic organizations with expertise on correctional health and on HIV/AIDS, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), and the American Public Health Association (APHA) have thus advised that prisoners be ensured access to condoms in a confidential and non-discriminatory manner to prevent HIV transmission in prison. See, e.g. UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS, HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care, Treatment and Support in Prison Settings (2006); NCCHC Position Statement, Journal of Correctional Health Care, vol. 11, no. 4 (2005); APHA Standards for Health Services in Correctional Institutions (3rd Edition, 2003).
Prisons in Vermont and jails in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles have taken measures to ensure the health and human rights of inmates by distributing condoms. Several countries throughout the world also distribute condoms to prisoners (including Canada, most countries in the European Union, Ukraine, Romania, Australia, and Brazil). These jurisdictions have distributed condoms for years without violence or other incidents that might compromise security, demonstrating that denying condoms to prisoners is not necessary on public safety grounds. Indeed, where institutional policy has provided for condom distribution, no correctional system has yet found any grounds to reverse or repeal that policy. See, e.g., World Health Organization, HIV in Prisons: A Reader with Particular Relevance to the Newly Independent States (2001); John P. May and Ernest L. Williams, "Acceptability of Condom Availability in a U.S. Jail," AIDS Education and Prevention (2002), vol. 14, Supplement B, pp. 85-91; Correctional Services of Canada, Commissioner’s Directive, "Management of Infectious Diseases," Policy Bulletin 181 (November 4, 2004).
Incarceration should not contribute to serious illness or premature death of any Californian, in or outside prison. Nor should it be an excuse to allow HIV/AIDS to spread despite the availability of inexpensive and effective HIV prevention measures. AB 1334 represents an important step toward meeting California’s obligation under U.S. constitutional and international human rights law to ensure safe and humane prison conditions and adequate medical services to protect the lives and health of people in its custody.
We urge you to sign AB 1334 and ensure its swift enactment into law.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Schleifer, J.D., M.P.H.
Advocate, HIV/AIDS and Human Rights Program
Alison Parker, J.D., M.I.A.
Deputy Director, U.S. Program
