Prison rites: starting to inject inside

Abstract

In 1993 an outbreak of HIV infection occurred within Glenochil prison, caused by sharing of infected needles.1 To determine the nature of injecting behaviour within prison we performed surveys in two Scottish prisons, Glenochil and Barlinnie, which combined voluntary anonymous testing of saliva samples for HIV and completion of a linked questionnaire asking about risk factors.2 The surveys were performed in Glenochil prison in July 19943 and in Barlinnie prison in September 1994.4 Seventy five questionnaires in Glenochil and 327 in Barlinnie were from injector-inmates; 25% of injectors in Glenochil (18/72, 95% confidence interval 15% to 35%) and 6% (20/319; 3% to 9%) of Barlinnie injectors reported that they had started to inject inside a prison.2 4 Half the prisoners, and three quarters of injectors, came from Glasgow. Barlinnie is a local prison for the Glasgow area, whereas Glenochil holds men serving longer …