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Date: November 25, 2024 Mon
Time: 8:15 pm
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Results for inmate sexual health
1 results foundAuthor: Butler, Tony Title: Sexual Health and Behaviour of Queensland Prisoners with Queensland and New South Wales Comparisons Summary: This report presents the findings from the Queensland component of a National Health and Medical Research Council funded study of New South Wales and Queensland prisoners’ sexual health and behaviours. Comparisons of the Queensland and New South Wales components of this survey can be found in Appendix 1. Overall, 900 men and 134 women in Queensland prisons were surveyed in 2007–08 by computer-assisted telephone interview after random selection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an epidemiological survey of prisoners has been conducted via telephone. Most found the telephone approach acceptable, would do the survey again, and reported that they provided honest answers. The response rate among eligible prisoners was high at over 75%. The respondents About half the prisoners in the survey were aged 30 years or younger; men were aged from 18 to 78 years and women from 18 to 61 years. This is similar to the age of the general Queensland prisoner population. A quarter identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Education levels were low and few (14% men and 18% women) had post-school qualifications; 30% of men and 16% of women had not completed Year 10 or equivalent. The most common ‘most serious offences’ were for men assault (33%), property offences (17%) and sexual offences (15%), and for women assault (25%), property offences (19%) and homicide (19%). For 39% of men and 55% of women this was their first time in an adult prison. Over half of the men (56%) and 65% of women had been in prison (this time) for less than a year, but 17% of men and 5% of women had been in prison for more than 10 years. Sexuality and relationships ■ Most men (95%) self-identified as heterosexual and were attracted exclusively or mostly to women (96%) whereas 63% of women identified as heterosexual and 75% were attracted exclusively or mostly to men. Almost 3 in 10 women (28%) identified as bisexual. ■ Half the men in the sample had had inter-course for the first time before they turned 15 (16 for women). This is younger than in the general community (18 for men and 19 for women). ■ The median lifetime number of opposite-sex sexual partners (for any form of sex, not just intercourse) was 23 for men and 10 for women with over 1000 partners reported for some men and women. One quarter of men (25%) and 12% of women reported over 50 lifetime opposite-sex sexual partners. ■ Around three-quarters of men and women were in regular relationships before coming into prison with around a third of those in a relationship reporting that imprisonment had resulted in the relationship ending. ■ One third of men had ever paid for sex; 10% of men and 21% of women had been paid for sex. Reproductive experiences ■ Most women in the sample (84%) had been pregnant. The median age of first pregnancy was 18 years, and the women had had an average of 2.3 children. ■ Around one quarter of women reported having difficulty getting pregnant, which is high for a population whose average age is around 30 years. Sexual forcing ■ Three-fifths of women prisoners (compared with 21% in an Australian community survey) had been forced or frightened into some sort of sexual activity at some time in their lives. The median number of episodes of forced sexual activity was 2, with some women reporting up to 500 events. This highlights the exposure of women in this population to high levels of violence and trauma. Sexual attitudes ■ Prisoners’ attitudes to statements on a range of sexual matters (e.g. explicit films, sex before marriage, abortion) were remarkably consistent with those expressed by the general community. However, male prisoners were more intolerant of male-to-male sex than men in the general community. Knowledge of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) ■ Prisoners’ knowledge of STIs and their consequences was good, and for some of the questions it was better than the general community. Prison sex and physical assault ■ Nine per cent of men and 27% of women had engaged in some form of sexual contact (including kissing or touching) with another (same-sex) prisoner. Most reported that this sexual contact was for pleasure and not for protection or as a trade for drugs. ■ While women were more likely to report engaging in sexual contact with another prisoner, men reported higher levels of self-masturbation in the past four weeks (median number of times masturbated for men 6, and for women 3). ■ There was a high level of support among men (88%) and women (74%) in favour of allowing overnight family/partner visits in prison. ■ One third of men and one fifth of women had been physically assaulted or attacked whilst in prison. ■ More than a third of men (37%) and 26% of women had worried about being sexually assaulted before coming into prison, but fewer (7%) were currently worried about this. ■ 8% of men and 6% of women had been threatened with sexual assault in prison, while 3% of men and 4% of women reported being actually forced to do something sexual they did not want. Queensland and New South Wales comparisons ■ Overall, Queensland and New South Wales prisoners were remarkably similar with regard to sexual health behaviours, sexual identity, past exposure to sexually transmissible infections (STIs), knowledge of STIs, and attitudes to sexual issues. ■ The level of sexual activity between inmates was not lower in Queensland prisons than in New South Wales prisons, where the policy of the NSW Department of Corrective Services is to provide condoms and dental dams to prisoners. Details: Perth and Sydney: National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, and School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales., 2010. 87p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 6, 2013 at: http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/pdf/publications/R236.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/pdf/publications/R236.pdf Shelf Number: 129263 Keywords: Inmate Sexual BehaviorInmate Sexual HealthInmatesPrisoner HealthPrisoners (Australia) |