American Notes PRISONS

Sex among inmates is forbidden in prisons, but the law does not always reflect reality. With AIDS on the rise and many prisoners in the high-risk group of intravenous drug users, the danger of an epidemic among convicts is real. The state of Vermont confronted the threat last month, when Governor Madeleine Kunin approved a policy of giving a condom to any prisoner who requested it.

New York City, where AIDS is a far more serious problem, last week decided to try a similar approach. Condoms will be made available to some 90 homosexual inmates who are housed in a special wing of Rikers Island jail. If the three-month trial is successful, the program may be expanded to the rest of the city's 14,600 prisoners. About half of them have taken drugs by injection and may have used contaminated needles.