NCJ Number
177970
Date Published
1996
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This report presents statistics on the number of HIV- positive and active AIDS cases among prisons held in local jails and in State and Federal prisons at the end of 1996.
Abstract
For prisons, the report tabulates data on the number of AIDS-related deaths, HIV testing policies, the breakdown for women and men with AIDS, and comparisons to AIDS rates in the general population. For local jail inmates in 1996 and State and Federal prisoners in 1997, the report gives national estimates of the percentage of HIV-positive persons and confirmed AIDS cases. Based on the 1996 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails and the 1997 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, the report also provides such estimates by sex, race, Hispanic origin, age, education, marital status, and current offense and includes estimates by selected risk factors such as prior drug use. The data indicate 3.5 percent of all female State prison inmates were HIV positive at the end of 1996, compared to 2.3 percent of male State prison inmates. New York held more than one-third of all inmates known to be HIV-positive. Of all HIV- positive inmates, 24 percent were confirmed AIDS cases. The overall rate of confirmed AIDS in the prison population was about six times the rate in the general population. Inmates in State prisons and local jails who had been tested for HIV self-reported similar HIV infection rates. Jail officials in the last national Census of Jails (1993) reported 6,711 inmates were HIV-positive and 1,888 had confirmed AIDS. The infection rate was highest in large jail jurisdictions. 5 references and 10 tables