At-risk behaviors with regard to HIV and addiction among women in prison.

The bulk of studies pertaining to addiction among delinquents have been conducted on male subjects. However, the few studies examining female inmates show that a significant proportion of them present an addictive disorder. Furthermore, the HIV infection rate is higher among these women than among incarcerated men. This study attempts to verify if women presenting a combination of criminal and addictive behaviors are at a higher risk of developing an earlier and a more severe delinquency than other delinquent women. Another goal is to determine whether women showing this comorbidity present a higher incidence of HIV-related risk behaviors. The study was conducted on a sample of 210 women from the Montreal detention center. It shows that addicted inmates present earlier onsets of both drug use and criminal behaviors compared to other female inmates. Addicted women also exhibit significantly more HIV-related risky behaviors, both in their drug use and in their sexual practices.