NCJ Number
113245
Journal
Judicature Volume: 72 Issue: 1 Dated: (June-July 1988) Pages: 63-70
Date Published
1988
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The described procedures for dealing with AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in New York State's correctional facilities have withstood the legal and budgetary tests of the past 6 years.
Abstract
The AIDS policy was based on input from all the relevant control agencies, such as health departments; executive control agencies; and the correctional agency's medical administrative, and institutional staff. Mass testing of inmates is not done due to the absence of a reliable text, confidentiality difficulties, and the irrelevance of test information to practical inmate management issues. AIDS cases are typically identified when when the inmate's health has so deteriorated that the effects of the disease can no longer be suppressed. Once the AIDS symptoms are clear, the guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control are followed. Upon return from acute care in an outside hospital, infected inmates are placed in one of three carelevels depending on the severity of the condition. Inmates determined to medically fit and able to participate in the normal prison regime are returned to the general inmate population. Education designed to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus and to relieve the anxieties of those who fear contact with infected persons is incorporated in the corrections department's policy statement on AIDS. Condoms and clean intravenous needles are not provided inmates, since this would encourage rule violations.