NCJ Number
183629
Date Published
2000
Length
13 pages
Annotation
According to monthly health reports filed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, about 48 percent of all prisoners diagnosed with HIV or AIDS caught the virus through intravenous drug use, but prison officials do not know how widespread drug use is behind bars or how many users are exposed to HIV in prison.
Abstract
The Beaumont facility houses the Texas prison system's first hospice, and 99 men died of AIDS complications at this facility in 1996. The facility holds 3,000 inmates, and more than 400 are HIV positive. It provides 24-hour care for inmates until their deaths. Women infected with HIV or AIDS are sent to the Texas City Sheltered Housing unit. AIDS is transmitted in correctional facilities not only through intravenous drug use but also through sex. Ways in which prisons in Texas and elsewhere have dealt with the AIDS epidemic are addressed, with emphasis on inmate education and counseling about drugs and sex. 29 notes