HIV and Mass Incarceration: Where Infectious Diseases and Social Justice Meet.

More than 1% of all adults in the United States are currently in a jail or prison. This mass incarceration, particularly of African American men, fosters conditions that facilitate the spread of HIV in communities where both HIV and incarceration are endemic. Recognition of the role of mass incarceration in the perpetuation of the HIV epidemic is essential to development of effective HIV prevention policies.