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Commonsense Bill to Prevent the Spread of AIDS and Other Diseases from Prisons to the California Public is on Governor Schwarzenegger's Desk

By Frank D. Russo

With the California State Senate's passage of AB 1334 (Swanson), which would allow nonprofit organizations to distribute condoms and sexual barrier devices to inmates, the Governor has on his desk a public health bill that will really do something to slow the spread of AIDS, Hepatitis C, and other diseases communicable to the general public.

The Inmate and Community Public Health and Safety Act, addresses the fact that prisons have become incubators for disease, and an unsuspecting public is suffering the consequences. Specifically, AB 1334 will allow non profit and government agencies to provide sexual barrier devices to inmates in order to mitigate the chances of those inmates infecting their partners, wives, and girlfriends upon release

This is a public health bill--and a serious one that received national notice in an unusually strong supportive editorial in the New York Times in July, "Fighting AIDS Behind Bars.”

The Times points out that, “By protecting inmates, the states would also protect the all-too-vulnerable wives and lovers to whom they inevitably return when their sentences are completed.” They note the recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control, which has urged states to implement condom distribution programs in the prisons as a way to prevent the spread of HIV behind bars and in the community at large. The editorial states, “Prison inmates have unprotected sex, despite laws forbidding it and denial by prison officials, which makes prisons prime settings for the spread of deadly blood-borne viruses like hepatitis C and H.I.V.” It concludes “Governor Schwarzenegger should sign the bill. It would give California’s public health community a powerful tool to fight the spread of a deadly disease."

Yet the sniggering has already begun. Senator Cox, a conservative Republican who along with all of his party members in the Senate voted against this measure, has urged a veto, stating, "The fact that this irresponsible bill has made it this far is outrageous.”

Aside from the California Family Council, a bona fide right wing religious based fringe group, the only other opposition to the bill has come from the California Correctional Supervisors Organization, which stated in its letter opposing AB 1334 that: "If the inmates would abstain from illegal sex within the prisons, there would be no health concerns."

There are two glaring problems with this specious reasoning. First, in point of fact they aren't abstaining and the prisons are obviously not able to stop this practice from occurring. Secondly, the brutal facts are that many prisoners do not have a choice--they are raped and sodomized against their will.

And the consequences are visited on those outside of the prison system.

That is why the bill has the support of a large number of medical groups such as the California Medical Association, The California Chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, those organizations specifically fighting AIDS, and groups like the California Commission on the Status of Women and the Conference of Delegates of the California State Bar.

That is why a chaplain in the prisons testified at a hearing on the bill that he is tired and frustrated counseling inmates who came into prison clean but became infected as the result of a sexual assault. “This is such a simple fix that would have profound implications,” he told the committee.

State Senator Gloria Romero, Chairwoman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said “This is a step we must take in order to address the reality of HIV and AIDS.

And there is a very real--fiscally conservative--reason for the Governor to sign the bill: The State of California is exposed to the real costs of not implementing procedures--Each HIV-infected inmate costs the state $25,000 per year in health care costs.

The California prison healthcare system is under federal receivership because the treatment of prisoners’ healthcare needs did not even meet constitutional standards. The entire system was threatened with a federal takeover because of an exploding prison population and escalating costs that could not be contained. AB 1334 offers a positive solution by reducing the spread of disease in the prisons and easing the correlating costs of care.

Assemblymember Swanson says about his bill, “Let’s not put our heads in the sand and ignore this problem. We should not allow this disease to incubate, mutate and get stronger in the environment of our prisons and be unleashed upon an unsuspecting community.”

In the face of vituperative charges made by Republicans in the legislature that this bill is designed to promote sex in the prisons, it took courage for Democrats to vote for this bill.

The Governor vetoed a legislative attempt to solve the problem last year. Hopefully, he will have the courage to sign AB 1334--or he will have the spread of these horrible diseases on his hands. There is no way of escaping the science and medicine on this and the costs in human tragedies and to the state and local budgets if he does not allow this bill, passed by both houses, to become law.

Posted on September 10, 2007

Comments

Thank you for your article Mr.FrankD.Russo

Here is another crisis that must be addressed.

A deadly strain of MRSA is traveling throughout the prison and jail system at an alarming rate and little or nothing is being done about it. Not only has CCPOA filed a lawsuit about it infecting 13 guards at Old Folsom Prison, but the California Nurses, Fire Department and others are up in arms about the risks to their employees on high alert. We cannot for the life of us comprehend how something this important, on a level with meningitis, known to be spreading throughout Old Folsom since April, didn’t surface in the media until now.

It spreads like wildfire through handshaking any type of physical contact, on surfaces such as light switches, door knobs, fibers such as clothing and bedding, even curtains and at least 8500 cases have been reported at the Los Angeles County jail since I first started mentioning this type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. As these prisoners have been moved to the various institutions, the disease has spread to workers and inmates, their families who visit and out to the community through the guards and medical workers. It is the one time when everyone at risk is united that this is a crisis in the making which deserves to be a top priority with all those posturing concern for medical care.
continued......

Posted by: Shaw at September 14, 2007 08:52 PM

It's imperative that the Govenor sign this bill! HIV and Hep C are incurable, lethal viruses that affect all socioeconomic classes in our population. There are many victims in the penal system. Providing condoms with education will help curtail this epidemic. This is a simple, inexpensive measure to save millions of tax dollars and help decrease the number of victims in and out of jail!!

Posted by: Eileen Guido, RN.MSN at October 27, 2007 08:12 PM

It's imperative that the Govenor sign this bill! HIV and Hep C are incurable, lethal viruses that affect all socioeconomic classes in our population. There are many victims in the penal system. Providing condoms with education will help curtail this epidemic. This is a simple, inexpensive measure compared to the cost of years of medical treatment to save millions of tax dollars and help decrease the number of victims in and out of jail!!

Posted by: Eileen Guido, RN.MSN at October 27, 2007 08:13 PM

ALthough I feel that the spread of diseases in our states corectional facilities is a problem, This form of prevention will only provide more problems than it will solve. providing inmates with condoms may prevent the spread of disease, you also provide them with the means to smuggle items through out the prison. it also provides for the possibility of violence against inmates. Inmates are raped in prison many times. providing them with condoms allows for them to avoid leaving any evidence at the scene. fighting crime and diseases in todays society is now done with a defeatist manorism and models an old saying " if you cant beat them Join them". this idea is such a bad idea and holds the potential for causing more problems than it would solve.

Posted by: Danny Todd at December 14, 2007 10:28 AM

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