Being gay in the US prison system

Despite Steven's HIV status, his T cells are normal and his viral load is zero.

Steven Todd Lange is 41 years old. He's been in a US prison for the last ten years. He's been addicted to drugs including methamphetamine. He's gay. He's HIV positive.

He's been blogging about his experiences and has now recorded an audio diary for Your Story.

Some people might find Steven's testimony uncomfortable.

Listen Listen to Steven's audio diary (3 mins 52 secs)

Steven's blog about prison life has many readers. He writes his entries on a typewriter from inside prison and his friend Marc scans the page and posts the entry on the outside.

Steven's blogs about wearing a GPS tracker on his ankle

For the last six months, Steven has been serving out the remainder of his sentence in a half way house which is a place where people can adjust to life outside prison.

During this time, he has been wearing an ankle bracelet which tracks his movements. You can read Steven's blog post about wearing the GPS tracking device here.

In his recording for the Your Story citizen journalism project, Steven talks about how he was put into the "gay tank" which is special unit to segregate homosexual inmates from the general prison population.

The unofficial rules that operate in prison fall along racial gang lines. There are the white gangs, the black gangs and the hispanic gangs. Steven says that he was once slapped by a white skinhead for talking to a black man.

Steven had a sexual relationship with Andy in prison. Andy is a former white supremacist and still has a further nine years left to serve of his sentence.

This extract contains reference to sex and drug use.

Listen Listen to Steven talk about his relationship with Andy (3 mins 19 secs)

You can comment on Steven's Your Story diary via the Your Story blog