Hmm, not sure how I feel on this issue.  There is currently a silent (until now) controversy brewing between prisoners activists and lawmakers in the countries states about whether we should be giving prisoners in state penitentiaries access to condoms.  The downside of doing this, say the people who refute the fact that this should be a health right of prisoners, to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, is that the handing out of condoms to prison inmates is in essence thumbing its nose at the fact that there are rules against sexual contact in prisons. 

I can definitely understand that point, after all, how can you have rules that there is no sex allowed (except prisons that allow conjugal visits to spouses, girlfriends etc), and then hand out condoms, which are used to protect against sexually transmitted diseases?  Seems that’s sending mixed messages at best, and is essentially saying “look we know we say there is no sex allowed in prison, but we also realize you’re gonna do it anyways”.  Very counterproductive, right?

Then there is the public health concern, and that is that prisoners are having sex, and prison sex is rampant in most prisons, where it is impossible to keep tabs on inmates 100% of the time and prevent it from happening.  You’ve got overcrowding, and lax security first of all, and you’ve got people locked up that are bound to express their sexual urgings one way or another.   Hey at least I guess they’re not handing out sexual pleasure pills and ProEnhance patches or VigRX or anything of that nature, but still, it’s a license to do what they want. 

Most states do not hand out condoms, with the exception of very few who have decided to pass the legislation to make is necessary to hand them out to inmates, and another handful that only give it to prisoners who receive conjugal visits from their partners (I believe this is only in certain prisons, and with certain prisoners, maybe ones that are not in maximum security because their crimes did not warrant it). 

I’m unsure of my stance on this.  On one hand, it is sending mixed signals to prisoners about policies against sex, and they are, in fact, in prison, and sex is one of the life pleasures they should be giving up for their crimes.  However, there is a public health issue in question here too.  The spread of AIDS and other dangerous disesases could creep outside the prison walls easily when inmates are released if they are not given protection.  Whatdya think?