The January/February 2015 issue of POZ magazine is online, in which we explore HIV and incarceration.

Here’s an excerpt from my editor’s letter:

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1 in 7 persons living with HIV pass through a correctional facility each year. Philadelphia FIGHT, an HIV/AIDS group, became aware of that statistic after realizing that lots of people seeking its services were arriving from jail.

Benjamin Green, a former inmate and our cover guy, regrets walking by FIGHT’s open doors years ago. “I let that opportunity pass because of my own prejudices and fear,” he says. Green overcame his concerns in 2013 by co-founding the Positive Men’s Initiative, a group for straight men living with HIV.

Advocating for HIV peer education programs in and out of prison is a key part of what Green and others believe can make a difference in the epidemic. Click here for more about their efforts.
To read my complete letter from the editor, click here.