BILL NUMBER:  S1293A

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the correction law, in relation to human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention


 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :
To require correctional facilities to provide inmates with information
about the prevention of HIV and inform them of their ability to obtain
HIV testing and counseling upon release.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :
Section 1 amends the correction law by adding a new section 75 to
require the state department of correctional services to provide
inmates with information about the prevention of HIV and inform them
of their ability to get free HIV testing and counseling upon release.

Section 2 amends the correction law to require local correctional
facilities to inform inmates who are within their custody for more
than a month about the prevention of HIV and the inmate's ability to
get free HIV testing and counseling upon release.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Correctional facilities have disproportionately high rates of
infectious disease, including HIV and AIDS.  The AIDS rate in state
              

and federal prisons is seven times higher than in the general U.S.
population.  Between 1995 and 1999, the HIV infection rate in Federal
and State prisons rose from 1,500 to 25,757 according to the U.S.
Department of Justice. As of 2006, New York State had an estimated
4,000 inmates in its care with HIV. The actual number is undoubtedly
higher.

The debilitating affect of AIDS on racial and ethnic minority
communities has worsened, as the demography of the epidemic has
changed considerably over the last decade. African Americans and
Hispanics, in particular, are now disproportionately affected. Racial
minority groups today represent almost three quarters of new AIDS
cases. Although Hispanics made up only about 14% of the population of
the United States, they accounted for 19% of the estimated cases
diagnosed since the beginning of the epidemic, and alarmingly, in 2004
Hispanics accounted for 20% of new diagnoses. African Americans
accounted for 43% of all AIDS cases reported during that same year,
even though African Americans make up just 12% of the population.
Among African American women, the figures are even more alarming - 67%
of American women diagnosed with AIDS in 2004 were black.

According to a recent study by researchers at D.C. Berkeley, the high
rate of African American men in incarceration may also have played a
role in the rapid spread of HIV throughout the African American
community. Researchers discovered that the increase in AIDS among
black Americans closely corresponds to the rise in incarceration rates
of black men over the past two decades. This is due, in part, to the
fact that prison systems are havens for high risk behaviors that make
the spread of HIV prevalent, including intravenous (IV) drug use,
tattooing, unprotected sex between men and male rape and the use of
contaminated cutting instruments. It is also a result of the HIV
positive men and women entering the system and those who are infected
during their incarceration, who do not know their status and lack
adequate information and resources to protect themselves. Under these
circumstances, HIV is being transmitted unwittingly, and resultantly,
a number of positive HIV cases in prisons are increasing. As hundreds
of thousands of young men are released from prison each year, many
will return to those communities that are hardest hit by HIV. Proper
education and counseling, the impact on minority communities will
undoubtedly worsen.
 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
2007-2008: Vetoed by the Governor (Veto message 91). This bill
addresses the concerns addressed in the veto message.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :
To be determined.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
To take effect on sixty days after it shall have become law.