[Information on health risks in prisons: evaluation of a leaflet]

An illustrated full colour brochure has been elaborated for Swiss prisoners. This brochure, named "Hygiene and Health in detention", concerns transmissible diseases in general and AIDS in particular. It is meant to replace typed A4 sheets which were not generally read. The evaluation of the brochure took place in a Swiss prison on the basis of 22 questions put to inmates during interviews. Answers of inmates having received the old sheet were compared with answers of inmates who received the new brochure. The evaluation concerning the informations' presentation is positive. The brochure is more attractive than the A4 sheet thanks to its illustrated and coloured presentation (chi-square = 6.52, p = 0.01). Prisoners remember having received the brochure more than the old sheet (chi-square = 10.02, p = 0.001). More prisoners have read the folder than the A4 sheet (chi-square = 4.22, p = 0.04). The evaluation concerning the principal preventive messages is only partially positive. Inmates do not appear to have assimilated the medical information any better than from the old A4 sheet.