Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Tuesday August 31, 1999
Mike Cooper

The first comprehensive effort to estimate the prevalence of AIDS and HIV among the nation's nearly two million inmates found that there were approximately 8,900 inmates with AIDS in 1997. That rate is five times higher than the nation at large.

Research presented at the first-ever National HIV Prevention Conference organized by the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also found high levels of sexually transmitted disease among inmates.

"AIDS prevalence was 5 times higher than the total population. HIV prevalence was between 8 and 10 times higher," said Theodore Hammett of Abt Associates, which conducted the study for the private National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

The study estimated that 39,000 people, or approximately 17 percent of the 229,000 people with AIDS in 1996, had been released from a correctional facility that year. The percentages were even higher for HIV infection, hepatitis C and tuberculosis.

"Virtually all inmates return to the community and many of them return with HIV, AIDS and other infectious diseases," Hammett said.

"This means that correctional facilities are critical settings for prevention and treatment interventions for infectious disease," he said.

A separate study conducted by the CDC also found high rates of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia among inmates, particularly women, entering corrections facilities at 14 cities and counties across the country.

The percentage of women entering jails who tested positive for syphilis ranged from 3 to 22 percent. Among men, the figure ranged from 1 to 9 percent, said Kristen Mertz, a medical epidemiologist in the CDC's sexually transmitted disease division.

In juvenile detention facilities, 9 to 17 percent of girls and 3 to 10 percent of boys tested positive for chlamydia, she said.

Researchers said prisons offer a unique opportunity to prevent AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

"Because many inmates are released back into the community within a few days, testing and treating persons entering jails and juvenile detention facilities may reduce transmission in the community," Mertz said.

A survey conducted for the CDC in 1996 and 1997 found that only 10 percent of state and federal prison systems and only 5 percent of city and county jail systems offered comprehensive HIV prevention programs for inmates.

About two-thirds of correctional facilities offered some form of AIDS education, but few offered peer-led programs, instructor education, multi-session counseling and pre- and post-test counseling, Hammett said.
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