News
Following is news and information regarding incarcerated populations. Links to the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report summaries at the Kaisernetwork
web site and briefly from the CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention
News Update. Note: Links to Kaisernetwork take you outside this site.
"Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Use and HIV
Transmission Risk Behaviors Among Individuals Who Are HIV Infected and Were
Recently Released from Jail"
Am Journal of Public Health Vol. 98; No.
4: P. 661-666,
The authors evaluated highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) use and risk
behaviors among 177 inmates who were HIV-infected and were released and then
re-incarcerated in San Francisco jails during a 12-month period. A quarter of
the adults who are HIV-infected in the United States pass through correctional
facilities annually. CDC Summary in Medical
Briefs April
U.S. Prisons Missing Opportunities To Provide HIV Testing, Education,
Prevention, Panel Says
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=51690
Black Religious Leaders, Public Health Officials in North Carolina Urge HIV
Testing for Prison Inmates
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=51525
AP/Montgomery Advertiser Examines Debate Over Segregating HIV-Positive
Inmates From General Prison Population
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=51039
"US Care for HIV Detainees Falls Short: Report"
Reuters, (12.07.2007) Robert MacMillan
A 71-page Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Friday charges that the US
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to follow national and
international standards for providing care to HIV-positive immigrant detainees.
According to HRW, the department has denied, delayed or interrupted treatment
for immigrant detainees with HIV. The report detailed the treatment of several
detainees whom it said either died or received incomplete dosages and became
resistant to HIV drugs. A cellmate of one 23-year-old transgender detainee said
in an interview with HRW that after the patient began to vomit blood, "she was
told only to take Tylenol and drink large amounts of water… she died a week
later."
There were 47 HIV-positive detainees in facilities run by US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of DHS, through April 2007, said HRW
spokesperson Rebecca Schleifer. Other facilities such as local jails and
regional centers also house detainees, though the government does not track the
number of HIV cases in these settings, she said.
Without improved medical care, internal oversight, and public accountability,
"immigrant detainees with HIV/AIDS will continue to needlessly suffer, and in
some cases, die in US immigration detention," HRW said. The report calls on the
US government to increase the number of facility inspections; revise medical
standards for detainee care; increase access to HIV testing; and enhance
protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive detainees.
DHS disputes the report's findings. ICE spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, "ICE
provides excellent care to the detainees in our custody, it's an absolute
priority with us. We spend nearly $100 million every year on detainee health
care."
UNITED STATES:
"Rape in US Prisons Under-Reported: Experts"
Agence France Presse, (12.07.2007) Allen Johnson
In New Orleans on Thursday, the National Commission to Eliminate Prison Rape
heard testimony indicating that the crime is common, though difficult to
quantify. The commission, which is charged with creating zero-tolerance national
standards for sexual abuse in prisons, is drafting a report that will be ready
for public comment in the spring of 2008.
While the US Bureau of Justice Statistics said more than 6,500 inmate
allegations of sexual abuse were reported to authorities in 2006, "There are a
lot of prisoner advocates who would claim that this is a vast under-reporting of
the problem," said Michele Deitch, an adjunct professor of criminal justice
policy at the University of Texas. "Everyone agrees that prison rape is an issue
that needs to be addressed, but not everyone agrees on the scope of the
problem," said Deitch, who once served as a court-appointed monitor under a
Texas prison reform lawsuit.
"You can't really tell if the problem is worse in one state or another, or if
they are just reporting incidents differently," Deitch said. Uniform reporting,
therefore, is one goal of experts who monitor the crime.
Increasingly, prison sexual violence is being addressed thanks to mandatory
federal reporting requirements, said Jack Beck, monitoring project director for
the Correctional Association of New York. And experts say the move toward more
internal accountability is professionalizing correctional institutions.
Even so, Beck and others said more outside scrutiny of inmate treatment is
needed. The consequences of prison rape, which may include mental health
problems, HIV/AIDS, and more violence, extend far beyond prison walls. "If
people get sexually abused while incarcerated, they come out angry and with
[STDs]," Deitch said. "What happens in prison, doesn't stay in prison."
FLORIDA:
"HIV Meds Withheld, Ex-Inmates Contend"
Miami Herald, (11.17.2007) Hannah Sampson
Two former inmates have filed a lawsuit alleging they were denied their HIV
medications while incarcerated in Broward County jails. The suit, filed in
federal court, names Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti and Armor Correctional Health
Services, which provides health care in the county's jails, as defendants.
Greg M. Lauer and Dino Cassata, attorneys for plaintiffs Kevin Sauve and another
man, said they also plan to file suits on behalf of other HIV-positive inmates.
"You can't just put them in a corner, warehouse them, and ignore them," said
Lauer.
Sauve was arrested on May 1, 2007, and charged with selling pain pills for which
he had a prescription. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Upon intake,
Sauve said he made oral, then written, requests for his HIV medication. As he
was moved from the main jail in Fort Lauderdale to the Sheriff's North Jail in
Pompano Beach, Sauve's notes continued to detail how his health was declining
without his HIV drugs.
According to the lawsuit, jail staff told Sauve they could not restart his
medications without a battery of expensive tests, which the jail would not pay
for. The suit charges that the Broward sheriff's office and Armor refused to
dispense the medications "as a cost-saving method of administering medical
care," a policy it says demonstrates "deliberate indifference" to detainees'
medical needs.
Neither Armor nor the sheriff's office would comment on the lawsuit. A statement
from Armor said its workers "implement the highest standard of care to inmates
under their care," and it noted that Armor uses protocols developed by the
American Corrections Association and the National Commission on Correctional
Health Care.
Sauve was finally able to access HIV care when a Broward judge reduced his bail
from $500,000 to zero so he could be released and seek medical help outside the
jail.
CALIFORNIA:
"Condoms for Inmates Sparking Controversy"
Sacramento Bee, (10.22.2007) Andy Furillo
Though he recently vetoed for the second time legislation that would have
allowed condoms to be distributed in California prisons, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger has instructed the state Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation "to determine the risk and viability of such a program by
identifying one state prison facility for the purpose of allowing nonprofit and
health agencies to distribute sexual barrier devices."
In his Oct. 14 veto message on Assembly Bill 1334, Schwarzenegger echoed the
position he took with similar legislation a year ago: Two state statutes declare
sexual relations between prisoners illegal, even if the act is consensual.
"However," Schwarzenegger said, "condom distribution in prisons is not an
unreasonable public policy, and it is consistent with the need to improve our
prison health care system and overall public health." Prophylactic devices are
already given out in county jails in San Francisco and Los Angeles, he noted.
Assembly member Sandre Swanson (D-Alameda), author of AB 1334, said a pilot
project is a good start. "I think this is an extremely positive move forward.
The project is going to demonstrate that we can reduce the spread of these
[STDs] and that our prisons will no longer be considered a place where these
diseases can incubate," he said.
Others, however, oppose Schwarzenegger's move. "He's talking out of both sides
of his mouth," said Lynne Fishel of the nonprofit California Family Council. "He
acknowledges that it's illegal, but he wants to put a pilot project in one
prison? I don't understand the logic."
The California Correction Supervisors Organization, which was against AB 1334,
is concerned inmates could use condoms to hide drugs or conceal weapons.
"Anything that circumvents security, we have a problem with that," said
spokesperson Ford Canutt. CCSO could support a pilot project at a
minimum-security facility or an inmate fire camp, he added.
House Passes Bill That Would Alter HIV Testing Requirements for Prison Inmates;
Chamber Also Approves Global Poverty Bill
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=47754
HIV-Positive Person Dies in Immigration Detention Center; Family To File
Wrongful Death Suit Against Government, Los Angeles Times Reports
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=46826
Rep. Waters Introduces Bill That Would Require Federal Prisons To Provide
Inmates With HIV Testing, Treatment, Counseling
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=44445
Alabama Corrections Department To Expand Re-Entry Program for
HIV-Positive Inmates to General Prison Population
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=44164
Bill Would Require Prisons To Provide HIV
Counseling, Prevention Education, Condoms
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=43456
Arkansas Senate Approves Bill That Would Require Prison Inmates To Receive
HIV Test Before Release
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=43413
Arkansas House Panel Endorses Bill That Would Require Inmates To
Receive HIV Test Before Release
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=43143
HIV Testing Should Be Conducted Among Inmates Entering, Exiting Prisons,
Editorial Says
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=42624
Washington State Legislature To Consider Bill Aimed at Reducing HIV
Transmission in Prisons
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=42373
New England Journal of Medicine Examines HIV/AIDS in U.S.
Prison Systems
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=42102
Washington, D.C., Project Ujima Helps HIV-Positive Men Leaving Jail
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=41390
