PASAN: Info Bulletin #5: HIV/AIDS and Prisoners: The Case Against Segregation

PASAN is a community-based network and organization, formed in 1991, that provides education, support and advocacy to prisoners and their families on HIV/AIDS and related issues. This fifth information bulletin discusses the issue of forced segregation of prisoners with HIV/AIDS. It describes possible plans by Correctional Service Canada to create a specialized care unit in one existing federal prison, where prisoners with HIV/AIDS can "voluntarily" choose to serve their time. The bulletin argues that prisoners with HIV/AIDS would be coerced into serving their time in this particular prison and health care unit, because of the lack of quality care in other prisons. A specialized facility would enforce segregation; increase stigma and cause a loss of confidentiality; deter people from testing for fear of being sent there; and create the false impression in other prisons that HIV risk is low and that prevention practices are unnecessary.