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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1999)
may 7.1: Penal Protection Oregon State Penitentiary's inmate-led HIV/AIDS Awareness Program gives prisoners the knowledge they need to stay safe by e have a situa- tion going on ,” says the guard. “Everyone is locked down.” T h e waiting room is filling up with girlfriends, kids, par ents, wives, lawyers. T h e regu lars have already stashed their belongings in the wall of lock ers and filled clear plastic bag gies with vending m achine tokens. Its all they can take inside. T h e guy n ext to me points out a N ational Geographic from 1977. A matronly first-time visitor is told her underwire bra w on’t make it through the metal detector, and no, she can not go in without a bra. A wind-up toy plays a lullaby. H olly P ruett the study found. Welcome to the Oregon State Penitentiary, home to For that reason, Caron considers HAAP a lifeline. 2,000 prisoners and the only inmate-led peer education pro Though HIV-negative and heterosexual, the burly, musta gram for HIV/AIDS awareness in the state. chioed convict counts himself among the 80 percent of Up on the Education Floor, 16 men offer varying degrees inmates with a serious drug history. of attention to Jerrid Wolflick, a volunteer trainer with the “Teaching in this program reinforces my own change in HIV/AIDS Awareness Program. thinking. If I don’t practice the information, I’ll lose it,” he Slender and handsome, Wolflick has a calming manner says. as he runs through definitions and statistics— worldwide, an Wolflick, the trainer, says he participates in HAAP estimated 16,000 new people are infected with HIV daily. because it gives him some peace of mind. His audience trusts him to know what he’s talking about. Like them, Wolflick is an inmate. “It’s like being in a college class,” says P eer educators cannot condone prohibited civilian sponsor Sharon Rubottom, present behavior like drug use and m an-to-m an to ensure “there’s no hanky-panky," as she sex but they see it happen every day. puts it. She adds, “He runs it like a professional.” So they focus on the window o f opportunity These semiweekly sessions are part of a that prison presents. 19-week, inmate-led course that certifies prisoners to he peer educators. When the “I’ve watched a lot of people die. Helping people keeps program was first started by an inmate several years ago, my anger level lower," he explains. there were 125 applicants for the first 25 slots. HAAP members believe they are changing behaviors. According to HAAP coordinator Charles W hite, the Many shared stories of inmates who, if they didn’t abstain, next class is already full, with no publicity other than word chose to snort or eat drugs rather than inject them, or of mouth. White, also an inmate, directs a staff of five plus engaged in lower- or no-risk sex. 10 regular volunteers who coordinate a network of trained Catherine Knox, administrator of Health Services for peer educators to speak with inmates. Oregon’s Department of Corrections, confirms the efficacy Harvey Caron takes a tough, realistic approach when he of the approach. talks to a hostile crowd: “I know none of you ever used “Inmates are extremely responsive to counseling and someone else’s works or had unprotected sex, but there are education efforts,” she says. “Studies tell us that the people 200 people out there in that yard who might have and are who would benefit are involved.” not going to tell you" (Knox says that blind seroprevalence studies by the Ore HAAP educators cannot condone prohibited behavior gon Health Division show the prison infection rate holding like drug use and man-to-man sex, but they see it happen steady at 1 percent.) every day. So they focus on the window of opportunity that Apart from the inmate-initiated peer project at OSP, the prison presents. Department of Corrections provides HIV education and “If it weren’t for prison, I wouldn’t ever think about edu services to every prisoner throughout the state system. cating myself on HIV," says lifer Gary Haugen. Knox says DOC favors a “normalized" approach that mir According to POZ magazine, a study by the Correction rors the outside community as much as possible. Resisting al HIV Consortium found that 90 percent of inmates with the mandatory testing required by other states, Oregon con- HIV will return to outside communities. “Most inmates say their first priority within two hours of Continued on P age 18 being released is getting high; their second is to have sex,” , 17