AIDS and drug use are matters for research and planning in the public health context. In particular, AIDS is lifting the issue of prisoner behavior into perhaps the single most important problem area in planning an effective HIV strategy. Moral posturing should not interfere with the objective consideration of much needed research and the safety of prisoners and the wider community. Evidence indicates that significant changes in sexual and injecting risk behaviors occur during imprisonment, and both behaviors and influences on them must be investigated since the relationship between imprisonment and risk is poorly understood. 50 references