The Corrections Demonstration Project (CDP) is a federally funded program designed to assist HIV inmates with care and services. The jail involved in the current study is one of the CDP participants. Interview instruments had been pretested in other CDP participating jails. The study involved 91 male inmates and 57 female inmates, all with diagnosed HIV. The interview focused on demographic characteristics and potential gender differences across important behavioral risk factors (alcohol and drug use, prostitution, general health, and emotional problems). The analysis of the findings focused on the needs and behavioral risk factors of HIV-positive inmates. The most surprising finding was the lack of difference between male and female inmates in either behavior or needs. Although more women engaged in prostitution, a number of males did also. Men tended to drink more, and women smoked more crack cocaine. If this finding was replicated with larger samples and across different locales, this would suggest that gender-specific alcohol and drug interventions may be warranted. The primary concern of both genders was immediate survival after release into the community in terms of sufficient income to meet food and housing needs. These survival concerns ranked higher among the inmates than did HIV care and treatment. This suggests that postrelease planning should give priority to meeting the basic survival needs of HIV-positive inmates. Only when this hierarchy of needs has been met are inmates ready to focus on HIV treatment needs. 3 tables and 32 references