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| Inmates to take HIV test before release |
| By Daily Texan |
| Published: 06/27/2005 |
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation June 19 implementing mandatory HIV testing for inmates pending release from Texas' prisons. House Bill 43, authored by Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, would require all inmates eligible for release to be tested for the virus. The bill also restates the right of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to separate inmates found to be positive for the disease from other inmates and to administer testing at any time during the year. The policy will be adopted into Texas Department of Criminal Justice procedure Sept. 1, aiming to prevent the spread of the virus both within and beyond the Texas prison system and to inform inmates of their HIV status. According to Vera Johnson, executive director of the AIDS Foundation of Houston, prisoners tend to live with the virus in larger proportions than the general public. "[Inmates] are contracting HIV in prison. It's a threat to the public health system and the community right now," Johnson said. "It's time for Texas to take the health of its prisoners and public seriously." Johnson said statistically the rate of infection is six times higher in correctional facilities than in the general public and that 17 percent of people currently living with HIV were at one time incarcerated. The passage of the bill came one week after information released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during its 2005 HIV Prevention Conference. The national number of those living with the HIV virus has surpassed the 1 million mark - the highest figure since the 1980s. Although the figure is more representational of the ability of those living with the virus to live longer because of current medication and treatment, according to CDC, measures such as HB 43 are proof that the United States still has concerns about the spread of HIV. According to Dr. Owen Murray of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which administers health care to most of Texas' correctional facilities, annual HIV testing within the state's prison yields a positivity rate of about 2.1 percent. Every year, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice tests entering inmates, averaging 35,000 a year, for the HIV virus. The test is optional but fewer than 1 percent decline. Under current Government Code, the results of an inmate's HIV test are to remain confidential, except in cases of medical necessity or in the case of suspected sexual contact with a minor. Therefore, it is unlikely that any inmate would be able to successfully protest the policy. "I would say that for the most part the education level of prisoners [concerning HIV] is very high," Murray said. Inmates and prison personnel currently undergo educational programs explaining the effects of the virus and the prevention of the spread of infection. Along with these programs, inmates undergo counseling before and after being tested. "The purpose of the bill is to at least assure that every offender, when they leave, [knows] their status," Murray said. Funding for the bill has yet to be determined by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. |
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