POZ I AM - Mark Olmsted - HIV in Prisons

Mark Olmsted is a long-term survivor who dates his seroconversion from New York in the early 80s, where he also graduated from NYU with a degree in film. In 1989 he moved to the West Coast, where he took care of his brother, who died of AIDS in 1991. Mark was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS in 1993, and lived for the next several years with the assumption they were his last, as he pursued a screenwriting career . He developed a crystal meth habit, which in turn led to drug-dealing to support his addiction. In 2004, he was arrested, and spent 9 months in various California prisons. While incarcerated, his sister offered to start a blog documenting his life as an out HIV+ inmate, a blog which he continued upon his release. He recently celebrated 4 years of sobriety.