Abstract
From 2004 to 2006, the number of HIV-positive inmates greatly increased in the prisons of Taiwan. Inmates infected with HIV are mainly because of unsafe intravenous drug use and the increase of HIV-infected inmates was getting government’s attention. This thesis discusses three issues. The first one is the interaction between HIV-infected inmates, after-inmates and the governance network of HIV prevention. Second, how are HIV-infected inmates and after-inmates brought into and unconsciously excluded by the governance network of HIV prevention? Finally, what kind of the restrictions do HIV-infected inmates and after-inmates have when possessing the identities of both an inmate or after-inmate and an HIV-infected person? Also, how do they lead their lives with these restrictions? The research methods include participant observation on inmates’ and after-inmates’ group activity and in-depth interviews inside and outside the prisons. At first, the thesis is mainly about the relation between the inmates, after-inmates and the governance network of HIV prevention. However, in addition to HIV prevention, crime and drug abuse prevention are also involved and the three form the multiple governance networks for the HIV-infected inmates and after-inmates. The network includes organizations of medical care, criminal justice, social welfare, religion, and so on. Many actors from the organizations above provide their intervention, which is called treatments in the prison, and have different expectations for HIV-infected inmates and after-inmates. However, these actors attempt to achieve different goals through the intervention for HIV-infected inmates and after-inmates, but their goals are inconsistent for they belong to different organizations. Another finding in the research is the HIV-infected inmates and after-inmates’ response to the restrictions that is caused by their identities of HIV-infected person and inmate or after-inmate as well as their personal drug abuse history. The truth is that there is no definite failure or success of stopping doing drugs for them because they do not always do drug during their lifetime. Sometimes they don't and seem to stop doing drugs successfully, but sometimes they do when they are in need of drugs. This is the HIV-infected intravenous drug users’ dynamic process of doing and quitting drugs. Due to drug abuse, HIV-infected intravenous drug users gradually lose their social contact with people outside the prison, but at the same time establish the social network with people who are also intravenous drug users. They become familiar because of the habit of doing drugs and the experiences in the prison they share. These people do drugs or commit crimes together, but besides the illegal acts, some of them may be friends or partners supporting each other’s daily lives.