This contribution gives 1. In 1992 about 60,000 persons were held in German prisons. Of those, about 18,000 were held on remand. This reflects an overall imprisonment ratio of 72 per 100,000. The proportion of women among the drug using population is much higher than the proportion of men.
Penal institutions are no drugfree or sexfree areas.
Although there are differences from prison to prison, from north to south and from urban to rural prisons, drugs seem to be easily available in prison. In contrast to Hepatitis B, at this moment no vaccination has been developped against Hepatitis C. Data collection for the spread of Hepatitis B and C has just begun. A seroconversion undoubtedly occured in prison. The spread of the relatively sensitive HI-Virus in prison probably has been overestimated in recent years. Compulsory testing is legal only in the state of Bavaria, where almost all prisoners are tested.