CONDOM USE IN PRISONS AMONG TOPICS BRAITHWAITE TO EXAMINE DURING CRIMINAL JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP

Condom use in correctional facilities is among one of many health care issues to be addressed by Emory University's Ronald Braithwaite, Ph.D., recent recipient of a criminal justice fellowship from the Center on Crime, Communities & Culture.

Dr. Braithwaite, well known for his research of conditions and behaviors related to the prevention of HIV/AIDS in prisons, is professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University.

As a senior fellow of the Center on Crime, Communities & Culture, he will conduct a national and international study on health care issues in correctional facilities. This study will involve data collection from key policymakers, inmates and correctional health personnel at six U.S. correctional facilities, and in correctional facilities in Australia, South Africa and Canada.

"Public health practitioners have a unique opportunity to arm inmates with pertinent prevention information while they are a captive audience serving time in penal facilities," Dr. Braithwaite says. "Given that the majority of inmates return to communities following incarceration represents a significant public health implication and an opportunity for positive behavioral change as it relates to risky sexual behaviors and other self-defeating behaviors."

In June 1998, Dr. Braithwaite served as conference co-convener for The Changing Face of Infectious Disease in Corrections conference that brought major players in prevention of HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis and other sexually transmitted diseases together with leading corrections officials. In 1996, he and co-authors published the book Prisons and AIDS (Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, San Francisco).

The Center on Crime, Communities & Culture is a project of the Open Society Institute--a private operating and grant-making foundation funded by George Soros.