People who, for one reason or another, are serving sentences in penitentiary institutions, face various difficulties. This social group is rather vulnerable for a number of reasons. But people serving sentences, being HIV-positive, are twice vulnerable.
Nonprofit organizations are eager to help such people. The Russian Red Cross (RRC) is no exception in this regard. Today we share with you how the RRC regional branch in the Khabarovsk region provides assistance to HIV-positive prisoners. We talked with 4 convicts. We learned their stories and got to know how they live with HIV-positive status in detention facilities. We asked them about issues and challenges they face, what bother them, what kind of help they receive and how they see their future perspectives.
Shock and depression. How our heroes became aware of their diagnosis and how accepted it.
Ekaterina, 26 years old. She is serving a sentence in one of the penal colonies of the Khabarovsk region. It is hard for the young woman to recollect how she became infected with HIV 6 years ago. According to her, “every memory causes discomfort, pain in my soul”.
She used to live in the Far North and knew little about HIV infection and AIDS: “It seemed to me that these diseases could not reach our village, lost in the taiga. I thought that this phenomenon was common in cities and that it did not pose a threat to us. And my lifestyle was messy in all meanings of this word”.
The young woman “could hardly accept the news that she was HIV-infected. I thought the doctors were mistaken.” It seemed that this could not happen to her. Then Katya felt helpless and desperate. “I felt like I had been sentenced to death”, she says.
Taisiya, as well as Ekaterina, passed through tough times while accepting her diagnosis. She found out the diagnosis accidentally, while staying in a pretrial detention center. She had fell ill with croupous pneumonia. She was 46 years old.
“All my life I got sick quite seldom. Sexual promiscuity was not my lifestyle. I had always felt fear when hearing about HIV or AIDS. And suddenly such a diagnosis! I felt a shock, then a long depression”, commented our heroine.
Taisiya was so depressed that she even refused treatment for pneumonia. But then she remembered about her loved ones, and it gave her strength to start recovery: “At some point, I remembered my relatives, my mother, my granddaughter. I began to reflect on whether I had the right to die to leave people who, in spite of everything, love me? So, I opted for a struggle.
Evgenia, our third heroine of this story, discovered that she was HIV-positive in prison. Like other women, this news astonished her: “For me it was an absolute shock. I was so angry at the entire world. I thought, after release, I’d go out, find the one who infected me, to…”
Fear of talking about the diagnosis
Elena, like our other interlocutors, is serving a sentence in the Khabarovsk region. She found out about her diagnosis in a pretrial detention center. She was fearful of the reaction of her cellmates.
“Staying in a prison dorm, I was shackled by fear. I did not know how to comment the others about it, because they might not understand. It was 2015, but still very few people knew about this infection. And I myself was not informed in this matter,”– she commented.
Taisiya also felt uncomfortable talking about the diagnosis with strangers. The woman admitted: “It was embarrassing to speak up about my illness. And when I heard someone talking about HIV, I was nervous, because people spoke with disdain about the HIV-positive, they stayed away fr om them.”
Prevention of HIV transmission and psychological support. Who and how helps HIV-positive prisoners
In the Khabarovsk region, wh ere our heroines are now serving their sentences, employees of the regional branch of the Russian Red Cross organize workshops for prisoners. The workshops are aimed at psychological support for prisoners, raising awareness about HIV infection. The specialists explain the ways it is transmitted, how the disease correlates with pregnancy.
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RRC workshop to prevent HIV transmission in a penal colony in the Khabarovsk region
Psychologists also work with convicts.
“Thanks to the information that I learned fr om a psychologist and a social worker, I decided for myself: There is live for HIV-positive. The classes were very interesting. I liked most that they listen to you and accept your opinion. Now I know a lot about HIV infection, how to live with the diagnosis, how to protect yourself”, – commented Evgenia.
Taisiya also emphasized that thanks to the workshops, she learned a great deal about her illness. This convinced her “to reconsider her attitude to the disease and to herself”. For her, the opportunity to attend classes and consult with dedicated experts and psychologists is of great importance.
“It is especially important that thanks to the help of the Russian Red Cross employees, for us [HIV/AIDS-positive living in the penal colony – notice] there is an opportunity to communicate with the medical staff from an AIDS center, a consultant and a psychologist from the RRC,” said the heroine.
Our interlocutors not only attend these workshops, but have themselves become trainers of the Russian Red Cross. Now they comment to other female prisoners about the issue of the HIV transmission and help them.
According to Elena, “Initially women were reluctant to attend our seminars, but then they got interested and started to learn the information”.
Now the classes are popular. “At the meetings with HIV-positive women, the same prisoners as I am, we communicate, share our problems,” said Ekaterina.
Evgenia added “I realized that I am not alone, we are learning to solve our problems collectively. Having joined the group, I feel the support of my companions”.
“There appeared the hope for a normal future”
Due to trainings and meetings with the experts, Evgenia has become more attentive to her health. Previously, she could skip antiretroviral therapy (ARV). “I thought that I didn’t need it and that I would hardly take it after release from prison, because it is so expensive. Now I do know how important this treatment is for my health.” The woman also was informed that the treatment is provided for at no cost, and she will not have to cease the therapy because of its high cost.
But much more important for her is to know her rights and opportunities, hopes and plans for her future life.
“The social worker from the Russian Red Cross holds classes with us. I know my rights, I know how and wh ere I can work. Thanks to this information I entered the specialized technical school for studying. I will become a seamstress. I realized that I could have my own family, give birth to healthy children. I know that there is a hope for a normal future”, – said Evgenia.
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A lesson dedicated to HIV-infection, held by the RRC staff in the penal colony in the Khabarovsk region
Apart from that, due to the spread of knowledge about the HIV infection among prisoners, many stereotypes and myths vanish away. According to Evgenia “prisoners, other women, began to treat us, HIV/AIDS – positive, better.”
Ekaterina has been treated with ARV therapy continuously for a year. She also makes plans for the future and is sure that great victories are in front of her. Additionally, once being released, the woman wants to become a volunteer in the RRC regional branch in the Khabarovsk region.
She would like to address HIV-positive people: “To all those, who face something similar, I’d like to say – do not give up! In solving your problems, you need to take the first step, and be sure that people around you will definitely help you”.
