Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, public health experts have identified prison populations as a target for preventive strategies in order to minimise transmission of HIV among the general community. Public opinion favours supplying condoms to prisoners, but this was successfully resisted by prison officers in New South Wales for eight years.
This paper examines expert and community opinions, HIV/AIDS and prison policies, public and correctional discourse, and statements made by prison officers' union representatives. It offers an account of the prison officers' success in blocking condom distribution, based on three major discursive themes emerging from the analysis.
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