Senate Bill S6488

                                BILL NUMBER:S6488

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

PURPOSE:
To require information regarding HIV testing, counseling and education
to be provided to persons upon release from a state correctional
facility.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections 1 of the bill amends the correction law by adding a new
section to require that inmates being released from state
correctional facilities be provided with information about the
prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and
instructions about how to obtain free HIV testing upon release,
including contact information for HIV counseling and testing service
providers.

JUSTIFICATION:
Prisons are breeding grounds for infectious diseases, namely HIV and
AIDS. Such is evident in the AIDS rate in state and federal prisons,
which 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 2001, New York State has the largest
known infection rate of 7,000 inmates.

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 U.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. Without proper education and counseling of regarding HIV status,
the impact on minority communities will undoubtedly worsen.

Requiring notification about the prevention of human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) infection and instructions about how to obtain free HIV
testing upon release, including contact information for HIV
counseling and testing service providers, upon release from
incarceration will further the goals of HIV control, prevention, and
education and help to alleviate barriers to health care that
typically exist upon release.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2009-2010: S.5973

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
To take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have become law.