Exploring Ways of HIV Transmission in Correctional Facilities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the few African countries where human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission is still a silent issue. In the context of the DRC, the purpose of this paper was to investigate how HIV is transmitted among inmates within Congolese correctional facilities. It focuses on the ways certain Congolese correctional services' cultures facilitate the spread of HIV. The paper argues that incarceration settings allow for the importation of pre-incarceration lifestyles and risky behaviours into prisons; hence increasing the risk of HIV/AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) transmission among convicts. Methodologically, the paper followed a qualitative approach based mainly on secondary data. A content analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings of the study indicated that prisoners' pre-incarceration lifestyle supplemented by prison culture and settings engendered HIV high-risk behaviour among inmates in Congo's prisons. In addition, the paper appealed for the government to pay attention to prison cultures generated by the interaction between prison environments and a quest for a sense of psychological wellbeing inside correctional facilities.