Wednesday, July 11, 2012
News Frontline HIV/AIDS doc focuses on needle exchange in Atlanta, lack of condoms in Fulton County Jail
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 11:00 AM
PBS' Frontline last night aired "Endgame: AIDS in Black America," a two-hour examination of the epidemic's devastating effect on the African American community, which over the years has seen higher infection rates. No topic is left uncovered: churches' inaction, the "culture of silence," prejudice against gays and lesbians, the judicial system and unfair drug laws, abstinence-only sex education, you name it. If you missed it, watch it online. It's without a doubt one of the news series' best works.
Atlanta played a big role in last night's episode, as well. In addition to interviewing several local LGBT and HIV/AIDS activists, the Frontline crew visited the city to focus on how needle exchanges and jail policies have helped fuel the epidemic.
Skip to 7:43 in the clip below, which discusses the rise of places where people could "borrow" a needle from a drug dealer to inject heroin in response to drug paraphernalia laws. Frontline then speaks with Jeffrey McDowell, the executive director of the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, a nonprofit which operates a mobile needle-exchange program and offers free on-the-spot HIV testing in the Vine City and English Avenue area. (CL profiled AHRC in 2001.) Such programs, which critics say feeds drug users' habits yet studies show help prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases, are illegal in many places, including Atlanta. The footage — especially McDowell talking with a woman seeking HIV testing — is heart-wrenching.
Watch ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
Around 10:28 in the clip below, Frontline's crews visit the Fulton County Jail. The facility, which for years has struggled with overcrowding conditions, doesn't segregate inmates with HIV. The warden says inmates don't have sex. But Dr. Earl Joyner, the jail's doctor, says he knows "they have more than a little." He argues it'd make good medical sense to "allow people to protect themselves." "These people don't stay here indefinitely," he tells Frontline. "They don't stay here for life. They go back into the community."
Watch ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
The two issues raise touchy questions, ones which elected officials would probably prefer not to address. Very few want to look like they're condoning drug use or offering anything more than three meals and a bed to inmates. But they're worth discussing.
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