NCJ Number
120656
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 69 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring-Summer 1989) Pages: 27-32
Date Published
1989
Length
6 pages
Annotation
New York State has had the highest number of inmate AIDS mortalities, 689, since the first prisoner death in 1981; possible reasons are high percentage (34) of national AIDS cases in New York State, the high AIDS rate in New York City and the high percentage of State inmates from the city, and the shift in the prevalent behavioral risk factor from homosexual and bisexual males to intravenous drug users.
Abstract
This study, sponsored by the New York State Commission of Correction, used eleven different medical records, including autopsy reports, sick call records, and physician progress reports, to develop an epidemiological and demographic profile of AIDS-infected inmates. Nineteen variables were used: age, sex, race, marital status, date of death, place of birth, residence prior to incarceration, date of entry into the correctional system, crime, intravenous drug abuse history, previous incarcerations, date of symptom onset, specific symptoms profile, date AIDS diagnosed, sexual preference, assigned correctional facility at time of death, hospital at time of death, period of final hospitalization, and cause of death (as per autopsy). The results showed a decline in inmate survival rates, possibly due to increasing strains on the prison system's health care system. The typical AIDS inmate mortality is Black or Hispanic, male, 34 years old, from the New York City metropolitan area, with a history of intravenous drug abuse. He is typically incarcerated in a State facility, convicted of robbery, burglary, or a drug-related crime. He most likely contracted the opportunistic infection, Pneumocysitis Carinii Pneumonia, and died after a final hospitalization period of one month. 4 footnotes, 27 references.