Ex-Offenders at Greater Risk to Contract STI

A recent analysis conducted by researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute found that individuals released from the justice system have a high risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection within the first year of release.

According to Sarah E. Wiehe, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at IU School of Medicine and an affiliated scientist at the Regenstrief Institute, she said that studies have shown that criminal offenders have a high rate of sexually transmitted infections when entering the justice system and that communities with a high percent of incarcerations also have an increased number of STI cases.

IU researchers looked at existing justice and public health data that shows that ex-offenders had a high risk of contracting a sexually transmitted infection within the first year of release, noting that the risk was particularly high for those released from the juvenile system.

A press release notes that Wiehe and colleagues worked with the Marion County (Indiana) Courts, the Marion County Health Department, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Indiana Department of Corrections to track 260,000 youths and adults who had interaction with the justice system through arrest, jail, juvenile detention, juvenile prison or adult prison from 2000 to 2008.

According to Wiehe and colleagues, 16 percent of those who tested positive for a sexually transmitted infection were likely to receive a diagnosis upon their first year of release. Look at these statistics, provided via the study's release:

• 10 percent from adult prison.
• 13 percent from jail.
• 10 percent of those arrested but not jailed or imprisoned.
• 26 percent from juvenile prison.
• 22 percent from juvenile detention.

"The one-year time period following release from the justice system represents a high-impact opportunity to reduce the sexually transmitted infection rates at a population level. Even modestly successful efforts to reduce post-incarceration STI and STI risk could have substantive effects on community STI burden across infection types," Dr. Wiehe said, via the study.

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute presented findings at the STI & AIDS World Congress in Vienna, Austria, July 14 to 17, according to the press release.