The Chicago Tribune; Friday, December 5, 1997.
Cornelia Grumman, Tribune Staff Writer.

On Thursday, he tried to convince a skeptical panel of state legislators of that by stating that fewer than 9 of every 1,000 inmates in Illinois test positive for HIV, while worldwide the rate is 10 for every 1,000, according to United Nations figures.

Further, he and other prison officials told the House Prison Management Reform Committee that the number of infected inmates has declined 25 percent from 1993 to 1996, even though the overall prison population jumped 16 percent over the same period.

Judy Coe, public health coordinator for the prison system, attributed the drop to a new AIDS education program started two years ago. Because even consensual sex between inmates is in theory prohibited, prison policy prevents the distribution of condoms.

"Their whole approach to this disease is the three monkeys approach: They see nothing, they hear nothing, they say nothing," said an unconvinced state Rep. Cal Skinner (R-Crystal Lake), one of the more vocal members of the bipartisan panel, chaired by Rep. Tom Johnson (R-West Chicago). "Washington made this incredible conclusion . . . that rape of men in the general population is more common than in prison. Who in their right mind would believe that?" Skinner asked.

During five hours of testimony, legislators in the James R. Thompson Center continued a yearlong series of hearings on prison reform, this one focusing on whether Illinois penal institutions have become an incubator for deadly diseases.

Amid the flurry of competing statistics introduced during the hearing, one former inmate, Michael Blucker, who says he contracted the AIDS virus after being repeatedly raped while in prison, delivered a simple message that lawmakers said they are considering introducing as legislation in the spring: Require mandatory HIV testing for all 41,000 Illinois prison inmates, and properly investigate allegations of those who allege rape.

"At first I didn't report them, but when it kept happening, I did, and the officers I reported it to kept telling me, 'It's consensual, you're lying, you're a homosexual,' " said Blucker, 28, of Crystal Lake. Blucker filed a federal court suit charging state prison officials failed to protect him from being sexually assaulted.

Illinois prison inmates are not required to be tested for HIV, as are those in 16 other states. Last year, 11,000 inmates asked to take the $10 test, according to corrections spokesman Nic Howell. Washington asserted it has never been proven in a court that an inmate has contracted HIV while in an Illinois prison.

Of 151 sexual assaults reported by inmates in three years, only 21 were substantiated, he said.

Copyright 1997/The Chicago Tribune. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Chicago Tribune, 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611. Copyright Chicago Tribune 1997
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