^1.3 million of the 9 million released in 2002 were infected with hepatitis C, 137,000 with HIV, and 12,000 had tuberculosis. These figures represent 29%, 13-17%, and 35% respectively of the total number of Americans who have these diseases (1) Unprotected sex is routine without access to condoms. And even activities such as tattooing or skin piercing that are relatively safe against infection from HIV or hepatitis C when performed in the outside world become high-risk activities in prison. They are prohibited by law, and their equipment banned; therefore everything connected with them is concealed and, of course, shared.
^Tattoos are one of the cause of the spread of diseases because sometimes they don’t change the needle and they just pass the diseases around.
^Diseases can spread all throughout prison from more than just needles. Unprotected sex might be the main cause. In prison they just don’t care, they feel as if they are going to be in there for the rest of their lives so they might as well keep somebody in there with them. Most of the time the prisoners don’t know that they have a disease and when they get out if their having unprotected sex with people they are passing it around to them and they don’t even know it
^Once inside prison inmates are tested for certain diseases, such as tuberculosis or syphilis, but institutions do not automatically test for HIV or hepatitis. But when procedures are not well explained (or when a prisoner does not speak English) and blood is taken, some inmates think that they are being tested for these viruses. Budget limitations often mean a no-news-is-good-news policy, so only those whose results show infection receive a follow-up appointment - and the rest assume that all is clear.
^In another case a Michigan prisoner was accidentally shown medical records from his previous incarceration and was stunned to learn that he had tested positive for hepatitis C two years earlier and had never been told. His girlfriend, with whom he had lived between his arrests, discovered that she too had the disease (probably acquired between her partner's detentions).
^Also, the use knives and other handmade objects to do tattoos. They don ‘t use needles in prison. Which causes diseases.
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