Should all prison inmates be screened for HIV?

[thepeopleslawyer]

This is becoming a hot topic as HIV rates in the prison system are steadily increasing. I think there should be more screening. It just doesn't seem right that someone serving time for slanging marijuana get infected and ultimately die because of this.

[sa_butta]

This also puts the guards at danger as well. But the problem is the cost. How often would they need to screen and how much more would this cost?

[Mr. Peabody]

China already does it --

People's Daily Online (http://english.people.com.cn/200411/26/eng20041126_165226.html)


China to start HIV test on prisoners


China will start testing the country's prison population this month to identify HIV-positive prisoners, the Ministry of Health said on November 25.

The ministry will work with the Ministry of Justice to launch HIV tests on inmates in prisons and other correctional institutions from this month to March next year, the ministry said.

If an inmate is found to be HIV-positive, the health authority will then test his family members, the ministry said.

The HIV-positive inmates and AIDS patients will receive proper treatment, it added.

In September this year, an AIDS patient surnamed Liu was put in prison in central China's Hubei Province for robbery and stealing. Officially, he is considered the first AIDS patient sentenced to imprisonment by the Chinese court.

The police are inclined not to detain AIDS patients, and many of them are not put in prison or serve their sentences outside as most Chinese prisons and detention houses have no facility specially for AIDS patients and the HIV-positive.

China now has a prison population of 1.5 million in its 670 jails, while the country has 840,000 HIV-positive people, of whom 80,000 are AIDS patients.

This year China has made great efforts to prevent AIDS/HIV and improve public awareness of the prevention.

The Ministry of Health said in mid October that it plans to launch HIV test on people with histories of selling blood nationwide.

Monday more than 40 billboards on AIDS prevention were set up along both sides of the Sanlitun Bar Street, Beijing's hottest haunt for night life.

The health authority also plans to promote AIDS prevention on the campuses of 34 universities.

Source: Xinhua

[1369]

If the prison doesn't presently screen, I would say that the courts won't allow it due to complaints that it is an invasion of privacy, and if results are known/made public would lead to segregation within the prison population.

[bonzi_isaspurskiller]

This also puts the guards at danger as well.


how so? are you suggesting that most guards get banged by the inmates?

[midgetonadonkey]

I wouldn't test them for anything. Fuck them. If they have HIV or AIDS, let the fuckers die.

[Nbadan]

Prisoners with HIV/AIDS should be segregated from the rest of the prison population.

[Crookshanks]

It puts the guards at risk because sometimes inmates will bite, scratch, or spit on a guard. The risk isn't as high as having unprotected sex with an HIV positive person, but there is risk nontheless.

[Oh, Gee!!]

It puts the guards at risk because sometimes inmates will bite, scratch, or spit on a guard. The risk isn't as high as having unprotected sex with an HIV positive person, but there is risk nontheless.

welcome to 1980

[sabar]

There is detectable HIV in urine, saliva, and tears. Transmission rate is quite low though possible.

Yes there need to be screenings. How would you like to get locked up for say a year for a mandatory sentence on repeat drug use and walk out with a death sentence?

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

This is becoming a hot topic as HIV rates in the prison system are steadily increasing. I think there should be more screening. It just doesn't seem right that someone serving time for slanging marijuana get infected and ultimately die because of this.

Hmmm, screening is not going to stop the poor mj slanger from getting HIV though... not locking him up might!

Why the hell is weed anything more than a speeding fine offense anyway? Speeding leads to thousands of deaths a year. While mj has it's problems (increased incidence of mental illness in teenagers, apathy, lethargy), doesn't tobacco kill 120,000 people a year? Why is it legal yet dope is not?

Addressing this and absurd mandatory sentancing laws will do more for human wellbeing than HIV screening.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

I wouldn't test them for anything. Fuck them. If they have HIV or AIDS, let the fuckers die.

You mean fuckers like your cousin who stole something from a convenience store, and got done for possession of green twice, and is now doing a mandatory 3 yrs because of the 3 strike policy? And he happens to be in a cell with a big Leo who may or may not have HIV but no-one knows because there's no testing? Yeah, sure, your cousin deserves to die. :rolleyes

Gotta love that human compassion oozing out of your every pore...

(BTW, I too am a massive HST fan, and if your attitudes mirror that post, I can tell you that if he were alive, he'd slap you in the face)

[PixelPusher]

HIV testing is not some bleeding-heart, namby-pamby privilege for convicts, it's a public health issue...remember that the majority of convicts will leave prison and return to the society at some point.