would have to agree with Assemblyman Dan Logue of Marysville, it appear that laws such as these might encourage law breaking.
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/to-cut-std-rate-calif-considers-condoms-in-prison/
I would have to agree with Assemblyman Dan Logue of Marysville, it appear that laws such as these might encourage law breaking. It’s a felony for prisoners to have intercourse while they’re in prison (besides a few rare circumstances). Shouldn’t we attempt to enforce that law equally? It’s an interesting dilemma. Do we aid law breaking? Or attempt to enforce all laws equally at a possible risk of an individual’s health?
Maybe buying security equipment, hiring more guards or building better prisons would be a better use of resources, time and money spent then distributing condoms. According to the CDC the most reliable way to avoid transmission of STDs is to abstain from sexual activity. Enforcing the laws in place would force people to avoid sexual activity and therefore is the most reliable way to avoid STD transmission.
I have difficulty believing that not a single security issue has happened after passing out condoms to inmates. The article even goes on to provide ideas of possible security issues and then lists “comical” and “unintended” uses.
This is an older article but it’s becoming more relevant and will relate to future topics and articles I post.
Direct Quotes:
SACRAMENTO (AP) — California prisoners have unprotected sexual contact, forced or consensual, even if both are illegal, and this reality often leads to the spread of HIV and other diseases in prisons and in communities where felons are paroled.
"It's a felony for prisoners to have sex while they're in prison, so I don't think it's good government for the state to encourage inmates to break the law," said Republican Assemblyman Dan Logue of Marysville.
In Mississippi, the state has provided condoms for at least 20 years, but only to the roughly 10 percent of inmates who are married and qualify for conjugal visits.
The program has created no security issues, she said, while giving nurses a chance to counsel inmates and advise them that they should seek help if they are being coerced into having sex.
Critics initially worried that handing out condoms would encourage an increase in voluntary or forced sexual activity, that the condoms could be used to smuggle or hide drugs and other contraband, or that they could be filled with bodily fluids and launched at prison or jail employees, an assault known as "gassing."
There have been some unintended and almost comical uses. Now some detainees use the condoms as hair ties or blow them up to use as pillows.
Logue, the Marysville Republican, said a better way to prevent the transmission of disease would be to enforce the law. He also noted that Bonta's bill would require distributing condoms in every prison — including the state's two prisons for women.
"Who would be using those?" Logue wondered. "Would they be guards or people who work in prison to have sex with prisoners?"
The University of California, San Francisco, projected that the rate of HIV infection among state prison inmates is about 10 times higher than in the population at large. California corrections officials estimate that more than 1,000 prisoners are infected, or about 1 percent of the state's nearly 133,000 inmates.
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