WETUMPKA, Ala. –Latrice Anderson clutched her fists, swung her head and tried to hold back hertears. “Oh God, I have AIDS. What am I going to do? I’m going to die!” shecried to her doctor.
Anderson, aninmate in the HIV/AIDS unit at Tutwiler women’s prison in Wetumpka, wasportraying a character in a drama Monday as part of National Black HIV/AIDSAwareness Day. The actors hoped the play would help dispel myths about HIVtransmission, and it took on new importance when prison officials announced theHIV unit women will soon be allowed into trade school classes with otherinmates.
Prior to theannouncement, they had been the only HIV inmates in the nation not allowed toattend training classes with general population prisoners.
“It wasimportant for the rest of the inmates to see this. We are going to integratethese ladies into the trade school classes and there are a lot of myths aboutHIV,” said Warden Gladys Deese.
Dana Harley, anHIV inmate who wrote and directed the play, said she has not sensed hostilityfrom the general population at the prison.
“They’re justcautious, because they don’t know everything about it,” she said, adding thatthe HIV unit publishes a monthly HIV/AIDS awareness newsletter that is handedout to the other inmates.
The performanceMonday before about 100 inmates from the general prison population earnedseveral bursts of applause. But a final standing ovation came after the playwhen Deese announced that the 22 HIV inmates would be included in thevocational classes in May — signaling acceptance from the prisoners outside theHIV unit.
“I learned wecan succeed no matter what we’re going through,” said Tonya Sasper, a generalpopulation inmate.
The women of theHIV unit, which is predominantly black, focused their play on a black womanfinding out she got HIV from her husband, who had an affair with anHIV-infected gay man — an increasingly common scenario within the blackcommunity, according to some researchers.
HIV/AIDS isinfecting blacks at a disproportionate rate. During 2000-2003, HIV/AIDS ratesfor black females were 19 times the rates for white females and rates for blackmales were seven times those for white males, according to the most recentfigures by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Researcherspoint to several factors that put blacks at risk: poverty, lack of health care,drug use — but failure to discuss sexual histories and lack of protectionduring sex is driving the alarming numbers, the CDC reports. A 2003 study ofHIV patients revealed that 34 percent of black men reported having sex withwomen after having sex with a man. And male-to-male sex accounts for 31.9percent of the black male HIV/AIDS cases in Alabama, according to the stateDepartment of Public Health.
Harley told theTutwiler prison audience that black men secretly having gay sex is “publicenemy No. 1 to every sister.”
Harley, whoplans to be an HIV/AIDS counselor upon her release in 2022 for a robberyconviction, said the black community should talk about safe-sex practices anddifferent sexualities more openly within their families to erase the stigmasurrounding homosexuality and bisexuality. She also encouraged the generalprison population to get tested when they are released because the virus maynot have shown up when they were examined upon entering the prison.
“They test youonce you get here, but some of you have been here for years,” she said.
The HIV inmatesalso shared their real-life stories about how they contracted the virus duringa support group session worked into the play. Around the circle, stories ofhope emerged.
Some wereinfected before giving birth, but new medicines prevented their children fromcatching the virus. Others had lived without symptoms for years and still felthealthy.
When asked whythey made that part of the play real and not fiction, Notoshia Boykins said itwas important for the other inmates to understand that anyone can be infected.
“What happenedto us, we don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” said Boykins, who found outshe had HIV when she entered Tutwiler a year ago to serve an 18-month sentenceon an assault conviction.
Angela Farley,who is serving a five-year sentence on a drug conviction, said finding out shehad HIV forced her to sober up. She hoped her story encouraged the other womento steer clear of drugs and promiscuity when they leave Tutwiler.
“I am healthierwith HIV than I was without it on the outside, you know what I mean?” she said.
