For over 15 years, the association has been offering group and individual expression sessions in prisons. In 2005, over 139 actions took place in 35 prisons, involving 20 departmental branches, i.e. over 150 hours’ work with some 2000 people, adults and minors.
These programmes are used to raise awareness and prevention levels in prison populations as a whole or are more specifically directed towards prisoners suffering from HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. They are run in close cooperation with health and social welfare partners and with prison staff, and are greatly appreciated by the institutions concerned and by the prisoners whom we support during and after their prison sentence.
Above and beyond the actions carried out, these programmes have shown that, despite the fact that the law states that “prisoners will be offered a quality and continuity of care equivalent to that which is offered to the rest of the population”, there is still much to be done before that becomes a reality.
AIDES therefore fulfils its role as a mobilising force around public health issues, and works closely with vulnerable groups to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS and hepatitis epidemics.
These initiatives have helped many people, still in prison or already released, to “keep going” !
