HIV risk behavior history of prison inmates in Hungary

As part of an intervention in correctional facilities in Hungary, we conducted research on AIDS-related attitudes and the HIV risk behavior history of 551 male and 81 female inmates to assess needs for and to tailor AIDS education programs. Although lifetime injection drug use was uncommon (8% of men, 3% of women), many Hungarian inmates had engaged in unprotected sex and had had high-risk sex partners: a quarter of men had primary partners who sold sex, about half of them had sex with female prostitutes, 13% of women had worked as prostitutes, and 9% of all inmates indicated having had sex in prison. Because many prison inmates may constitute a potential bridge population for the sexual transmission of HIV between the general population and high-risk populations, interventions among prison inmates may provide an opportunity to reach an at-risk population and to prevent the wider spread of sexually transmitted HIV.