Panel 1: AIDS/HIV

In the United States, more than one million people are living with HIV and more than half a million have died from AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic, now three decades ago. Although initially branded as a gay, white male disease in the U.S., the face of HIV/AIDS has altered dramatically since the first description of an opportunistic infection, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia afflicting five males in Los Angeles, was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1981. African American women, making up just 12% of the female population, now account for 2/3rds of new HIV infections. HIV is now the leading cause of death for African American women ages 25-34 years and the third leading cause of death for African American women 35-44 years of age, in effect compromising the survival and future growth potential for the African American population. The majority of these women represent a changing face for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S., infection resulting from contact with their African American male partners unduly and often unknowingly infected with HIV. In this project, we argue that the war on drugs and mandatory sentencing laws result in gross disparities with significant public health consequences. For example, empirical data suggests that disparate sentencing guidelines regarding crack and cocaine, disproportionately impacts arrests, prosecutions, sentencing, and incarceration. The bottom line is a gross disparity in who is incarcerated in US prisons; more black men than any other group. Our contribution to this literature is to look at what occurs in prison and its impacts outside. For example, the collateral effects include African American men suffering and dying disproportionately from HIV/AIDS—and infecting their heterosexual female partners. This project posits that prison sex and prison rape results in the transmission of sexual diseases and HIV/AIDS. We provide case studies to show that African American women’s diagnosis of HIV/AIDS directly correlates with their male partners’ sexual experiences in prison. The lack of coordinated screening, prevention, harm reduction, and treatment efforts within the corrections system signals a significant missed public health opportunity to reduce the burden of HIV/AIDS in the prison population and in the larger community to which individuals will return. Indeed, the missed opportunity has contributed to the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS among African American women, who receive male partners upon re-entry into the community