AEGiS-APPJ: The Maryland Division of Correction Medical-Parole Program: A Four-Year Experience, 1991 to 1994

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

The Maryland Division of Correction Medical-Parole Program: A Four-Year Experience, 1991 to 1994

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 11, no. 1 (Spring 1996): 21-7
N.E. Kendig, B. Boyle, and A. Swetz

Historically, the U.S. prison population has been young and relatively healthy, with lower mortality rates than comparable community populations. . . . Between 1990 and 1994, the Criminal Justice Institute reported an increase in natural deaths among federal and state prison inmates from 1,722 deaths (33 percent AIDS related) to 2,586 deaths (40 percent AIDS related). The 50 percent increase in the mortality of inmates was primarily attributable to AIDS, and greatly exceeded the concomitant population increase of 34 percent within U.S. prisons. The escalation in AIDS-related mortality in the prison system reflects the growing numbers of prisoners with late-stage HIV infection who are susceptible to the multiple complications of AIDS. . . .

In addition to the obvious effect of the HIV epidemic on the morbidity of inmates, the provision of healthcare services in prisons may increasingly be influenced by the aging U.S. inmate population. The number of inmates who are more than 50 years old in adult correctional facilities has slowly but steadily increased to 6.1 percent of the incarcerated population through 1994. With a growing geriatric population and the continuing impact of HIV infection, correctional systems will be responsible for growing numbers of inmates with serious medical conditions into the next decade.

Faced with this challenge, state correctional systems have recently enacted medical parole policies that permit early release of inmates diagnosed with AIDS or other terminal or incapacitating illnesses.
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