Inmates' Coercion Makes Sex a Currency (The Beacon
In a jail primer pamphlet put out by former Watergate conspirator turned prison minister Chuck Colson, a young, first-time inmate gets a whispered piece of advice from an older prisoner:
Accept no favors, never gamble, never accept loans.
It's a warning repeated by defense lawyers and others preparing novice convicts for the realities of life behind bars.
It's a warning about the kinds of missteps that can lead heterosexual men into sex with other male inmates—and the risk of contracting the AIDS virus.
According to inmates and experts alike, most of the sex going on in men's prisons is voluntary. It's forbidden by Ohio law and prison rules but winked at in other regulations—such as the one allowing inmates to request and pay for an HIV test "after consensual sex."
But not all sex on the inside is voluntary.
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