Incarceration and HIV Risk Behaviors among Injection Drug Users: A Midwestern Case Study

Recent statistics indicate that injection drug users (IDUs) and crack cocaine users are increasingly coming into contact with the criminal justice system. A number of these individuals engage in high risk behaviors associated with the transmission of the AIDS virus. This study examines the relationship between level of HIV risk behavior and history of exposure to jail or prison using a sample of 879 midwestem, not-in-treatment IDUs. A number of HIV high-risk variables were found to be significantly related to the IDUs’ time in jail, including: (1) initiation to drug injection at an early age, (2) having multiple sex partners, (3) having a history of an STD, (4) being a daily drug user, (5) daily injection of cocaine, heroin, or speedball, (6) inconsistent use of condoms, and (7) using rented needles. Our data indicate that active IDUs with the highest HIV risk behaviors were those most likely to spend time in jail. Because it reaches a large number of at-risk IDUs’ the criminal justice system appears to be the most logical place for the implementation of drug and AIDS prevention/intervention programs. Public healtlt initiatives on HIV risk behaviors should have priority status in the penal institutions. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.