NCJ Number
121647
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1990) Pages: 36,38,40-41
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Issues in managing the threat of AIDS in correctional facilities pertain to critical analysis of policy options, compassionate release programs, experimental drug trials, and condom programs.
Abstract
Analyzing each part of an AIDS policy, including medical care, housing, notification and confidentiality, education and training programs, and precautionary measures, and comparing them to guidelines will help corrections administrators assess their plan's effectiveness. The issues of compassionate release -- selectively releasing terminal or end-stage AIDS patients from custody -- may become a more viable option as correctional administrations address the inevitable increase in seropositive, symptomatic inmates. This not only enables low-risk offenders to live out the remainder of their lives in dignity but also relieves the correctional system of a significant financial burden. As new drugs to treat HIV infection are developed and become available to the general public through epidemiological trials, it will raise the issue of whether or not inmates will be allowed to participate in these trials. In the future, more correctional systems will also face the dilemma of whether to distribute condoms for safer sex, even though agency rules prohibit sexual activity. The same dilemma is associated with the distribution of cleaning solution for needles and hypodermics shared by inmate intravenous drug users.