The Easy Way the Government can Reduce AIDS and Hep C

In addition, the fact that prisons have become hotbeds propagating dangerous, expensive-to-treat infectious disease is yet another argument for a major re-think of the “war on drugs.”  Individuals with addiction problems, or minor recreational drug use issues, are being sentenced to a substantial probability of rape by a population well known to be frequently infected with dangerous diseases or to being exposed through “household transmission" of potentially fatal Hep C.

This is one more way in which the “war on drugs” differentially affects households of color and differentially destroys their health and earning potential.

The segregation of prison populations by infectious disease status is a policy change which could be effected rapidly, would save millions in health care costs and would have a significant net benefit to both the incarcerated and their spouses and lovers, a large number of whom are women of color.

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