Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Prisons and Jails

• Author: John S. Moran,Thomas Peterman
• Published date: 01 October 1989
• Date: 01 October 1989
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/003288558906900203
• Subject Matter: Articles

Sexually Transmitted Diseases in
Prisons and Jails
John S. Moran and Thomas Peterman*
There are over 20 sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) (Table 1). Some are
serious, some are minor; some are curable, some are not. But they have in common the
fact that they affect disproportionately the young, urban poor. The peak incidence of both
syphilis and gonorrhea is in the 20-24 year-old age group. The highest incidence of AIDS is
in the 30-34 year-old age group, but most of them acquired their infection in their 20’s.
STD incidence varies widely from state to state. For example, Florida reported 66.8
cases of primary and secondary syphilis per 100,000 population in 1988, while South
Dakota reported 0.1, a 668-fold difference. Georgia reported 625.8 cases of gonorrhea per
100,000, while Vermont reported 35.2, a 17.8-fold difference (Centers for Disease
Control, 1988a). Figures 1 and 2 show the distribution of syphilis and gonorrhea cases in
the United States. Within states, cases are usually concentrated in cities. For example, in
1987, Atlanta had a syphilis rate 8 times as high as the rest of Georgia and gonorrhea rate
12 times as high (Centers for Disease Control, October, 1988b). Within cities, the highest
incidence rates are often in poor black or Hispanic populations.
*The authors are epidemiologists in the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Centers
for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia.
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The prevalence of STD’s among persons arrested reflects the prevalence of STD’s
in the population from which they come. Many studies have documented high rates of
STD’s among persons recently taken into custody. In a study of 2,521 persons entering the
New York Juvenile Detention Center in July 1983 through June 1984, 3 percent of the
males and 18.3 percent of the females were found to have gonorrhea; 0.6 percent of the
males and 2.5 percent of the females had syphilis (Alexander-Rodriguez and Vermund,
1988). When screening was offered to female prisoners arrested for prostitution and
drug-related offenses in the Rhode Island state prison between May and July 1988, 18 of
the 134 screened had gonorrhea (G. Comfort, personal communication). Syphilis
screening in Connecticut’s prison for women revealed that the percentage of entrants
with syphilis increased from 1.2 percent in 1983 to 5.4 percent in 1988 (T.A. Farley and
J. Hadler, personal communication). On the West Coast, a 1981 study of women entering
the King County, Washington, juvenile detention center, found 18 percent positive for
gonorrhea, though none had syphilis (Bell et al., 1985). The U.S. federal prison sys-
tem reported 103 cases of gonorrhea and 562 cases of syphilis among 28,908 new...