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Stop AIDS in Prison Act of 2009

August 4, 2009
Floor Statement
Rep. Maxine Waters [D-CA]: Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friends, John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Lamar Smith, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Mr. Bobby Scott, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Their staffs worked closely with my staff in a bipartisan manner when we drafted this bill 2 years ago, introduced it as H.R. 1943, reported it favorably and passed it on suspension. And they have been strong supporters of it ever since.

More than a quarter century has passed since AIDS was first discovered, yet the AIDS virus continues to infect and kill thousands of Americans every year. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, released new estimates of HIV infection which proves that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is even worse than we thought. The new estimates indicate that approximately 56,300 new infections occurred in the United States in 2006. This figure is approximately 40 percent higher than CDC's previous estimates of 40,000 new infections every year.

Here in our Nation's capital, health officials just announced that the HIV infection rate has reached 3 percent. That is 2,984 residents per every 100,000 over the age of 15, or 15,120 right here in our capital. This is a rate that exceeds the 1 percent threshold for a severe epidemic, and compares to severely impacted nations in West Africa. This announcement made the headlines in Sunday's Washington Post.

We need to take the threat of HIV/AIDS seriously, and we need to confront it in every institution in our society. That includes our Nation's prison system.

In 2005, the Department of Justice reported that the rate of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons is three times higher than in the general population. The Department of Justice also reported that 2 percent of State prison inmates and 1.1 percent of Federal prison inmates were known to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2003. However, the actual rate of HIV infection in our Nation's prisons is still unknown because prison officials do not consistently test prisoners.

In January of this year, the Journal of the National Medical Association published an article by Dr. Nina Harawa and Dr. Adaora Adimora on "Incarceration, African Americans and HIV: Advancing a Research Agenda.'" The article confirmed that individuals at high risk for incarceration also tend to be at high risk for HIV infections. Incarcerated populations have a high prevalence of characteristics associated with HIV infection. These characteristics include low socioeconomic status, drug use, multiple sex partners, and histories of sexual abuse and assault.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Harawa's and Dr. Adimora's article also pointed out that incarceration could provide a window of opportunity for reaching at-risk individuals and providing them testing, treatment, and prevention services for HIV and AIDS. Unfortunately, these services are not consistently available in the correctional system.
  
HIV testing is not required upon entry and prior to release from Federal prisons, nor is testing required in most State prisons.

Treatment for HIV/AIDS in the correctional system is often limited by lack of expertise among prison health providers and inadequate access to HIV pharmaceuticals.

Finally, HIV prevention programs are not available in a consistent or complete fashion throughout the entire correctional system. That is why we need to pass the Stop AIDS in Prison Act today. The Stop AIDS in Prison Act requires the Federal Bureau of Prisons to develop a comprehensive policy to provide HIV testing, treatment, and prevention for inmates in Federal prisons.

This bill requires the Bureau of Prisons to test all prison inmates for HIV upon entering prison and again prior to release from prison unless the inmate absolutely opts out of taking the test. Inmates who test positive will be given comprehensive treatment during their incarceration and referrals to services in the community prior to release. All inmates, regardless of their test results, will be given HIV prevention education.

We are honored to have the support of many of the prominent HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations for the Stop AIDS in Prison Act. These include; AIDS Action, The AIDS Institute, the National Minority AIDS Council, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the HIV Medicine Association, the Latino Commission on AIDS, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Bienestar, a Latino community service and advocacy organization, and the AmASSI National Health and Cultural Centers, another community service and advocacy organization. The Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles, which has been severely impacted by HIV/AIDS, has also expressed support for this bill.

In conclusion, the Stop AIDS in Prison Act will help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among prison inmates, encourage them to take personal responsibility for their health, and reduce the risk that they will transmit HIV/AIDS to other persons in the community following their release from prison.

I would like to thank my colleagues who have been involved, especially my colleague from California who is on the floor today in support of this legislation. 

I would urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.

 

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