Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Venereal Disease in Women Prisoners

1957; BMJ; Volume: 33; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/sti.33.2.105

1472-3263

E. Keighley,

Genital Health and Disease

Before I started the V.D. clinic in Holloway Prison I had no knowledge of prison administration or of the conditions I should meet.I shall therefore give a resume of the general arrangements in this prison, the position regarding venereal disease as I found it in July, 1949, and how the clinic has since gradually expanded.The Prison Commission has given me permission to read this paper but I must make it clear that the opinions expressed in it are my own, and not necessarily those of the Prison Commission.Holloway Prison, London, built in 1855, serves an area of 23 counties, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as the Wash.The population consists of two classes: those who are on remand, and those who are convicted.Their ages vary from 16 to over 80 years, with an occasional 15-year-old admitted under special circumstances.The population is further divided into those in the prison itself and those in the prison hospital.The prison contains convicted women and also those on a "straight" remand from the courts, i.e., women remanded in custody while the Probation Officer makes further inquiries, usually to find out whether they have any previous convictions.These women are kept in a separate wing.The prison hospital, with 104 beds, contains:(1) Women who are under special observation for physical or mental reasons.(2) Women who are sick.(3) Women who are pregnant. (4)Nursing mothers and their young babies.(5) Women remanded for a medical report.The position I found in Holloway in July, 1949, was that only two classes of women were examined and tested for venereal diseases:(1) Women on remand for a medical report.