On Sept. 01, 2008, Solano State Prison will be a part of a yearlong pilot project dispensing condoms to prisoners.
In one of those examples of when the right hand isn’t agreeing with the left, prisoners will be permitted to have in your possession a “sealed” condom, but, should the seal be broken, the prisoner will be subject to a write-up. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill which would have required California prisons to allow non-profit and public health agencies to distribute “sexual barrier protection devices.”
Much opposition comes from many in the prison administration who see it as an easy step to authorizing same-sex prisoners to engage in sexual activities. Yet, infection rates of HIV and STD’s in state and federal prisons are five times greater than in the free population. The non-profit “Center for Health Justice” has been asked to facilitate the program. Condom machines will be placed in “discrete” locations at the prison.