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Free Condom Vending Machines Are Coming To California Prisons

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A controversial new California law will provide free condoms to all incarcerated inmates by way of vending machines, which will be mandatory in each of the state's 40+ prisons before 2020.

Though sexual activity in prison is technically considered illegal in California, the free condoms are being provided in light of startling statistics that show prisoners are at higher risk of contracting STDs while incarcerated.

Proponents of the new law hope it will help reduce the spread of STDs like HIV and Hepatitis C.

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As the Independent points out, the mandatory law may be new but the thought of condom distribution in prison is not. The paper notes that condoms are already available to prisoners in Vermont, while cities like New York and Washington D.C. began providing their prisoners with condoms as early as the '90s.

In the early days of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco, condoms were distributed to the city's prisoners at a rate of nearly 2,000 per month.

Related: Courts Uphold L.A.'s Mandatory Condom Law For Porn Actors

"Frankly, it’s unconscionable that for decades in prisons and jails men and women, who have been exposed to and contracted HIV and AIDS, essentially have been neglected when in fact it could have been prevented," San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi told the paper.

While prisoners seem to welcome the condom vending machines, opponents have claimed they could increase drug trafficking activity.

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