title: Risk, Feasibility, and Cost Evaluation of a Prisoner Condom Access Pilot Program in One California State Prison.
abstract: This study evaluated the safety and security impact, feasibility, and cost of a program to provide condoms to inmates. A 1-year pilot study of wall-mounted condom dispensing machines in one California state prison compared pre- and post-intervention rates of penal code violations related to sexual misconduct, contraband, controlled substances, and violence. The rates of penal code violations were unchanged or decreased compared to the pre-pilot year. Discreetly located condom dispensers were vandalized less frequently than those in plain view (p < .05). Distributing condoms using the pilot model would cost less than $2 per inmate annually. Results suggest that the use of discreetly located dispensing machines is an acceptable, feasible, low-cost option to prevent the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and poses no safety or security risk in a typical medium-security prison setting.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Unit, California Correctional Health Care Services, Elk Grove, CA, USA kimberley.lucas@cdcr.ca.gov.
authors.forename: Kimberley D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.affiliation: Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch, Division of Communicable Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jamie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Office of AIDS, Center for Infectious Diseases, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Valorie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Eckert
authors.affiliation: Office of AIDS, Center for Infectious Diseases, California Department of Public Health, Sacramento, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Horne
authors.affiliation: Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch, Division of Communicable Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Samuel
authors.affiliation: Public Health Unit, California Correctional Health Care Services, Elk Grove, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Janet C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Mohle-Boetani
keywords: condoms; correctional health care; inmates; prison; sexually transmitted disease