California prison guards' union protests program providing condoms to inmates
Saying condoms could be used as weapons or to transport drugs, the California prison guards’ union on Wednesday criticized the new practice of giving them out to inmates.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the statement published by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. President Chuck Alexander says the union supports safer sex, “but safe sex for inmates means more risk for officers.”
Condom distribution began in July, implementing a state law passed in 2014 with the goal of reducing new HIV infections in state prisons. In the first six weeks, the Chronicle says, 21,000 condoms were distributed at four facilities.
In the news release, Alexander says condoms can be used to hide or transport drugs; made into slingshots; melted into crude knives; or used to hurl bodily fluids at guards. He also says because they allow rapists to “flush evidence,” condoms could make it harder to stop prison rape.
Alexander says dirty needles are more likely to transmit HIV in prison, and asked, “Will we be passing out clean needles next?”
A pilot project conducted at Solano State Prison in 2008-2009 found no evidence of increased dangers and concluded that condoms had probably reduced infections. San Francisco has distributed condoms to male inmates in city jails since 1989.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimates that 1,240 inmates have HIV or AIDS, and the state spends more than $18 million a year on their care. The number infected is likely an underestimation because the department does not test prisoners for the virus.
The law permitting the distribution of condoms was authored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, a Democrat from the Bay Area, and required the Department to make a five-year plan to expand condom availability. A legislative report connected to the bill quoted a study from the University of California at San Francisco which found that the HIV infection rate in prison was eight to 10 times higher than that of the general population, largely because of inmates’ past drug use.
Prior attempts to pass a condom-distribution bill had failed, with Gov. Jerry Brown vetoing a prior bill in 2013 and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoing bills in 2008 and 2006.
