BILL NUMBER: S5945

SPONSOR: SANDERS
 
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 information regarding HIV testing, counseling and education
to be provided to persons upon release from a state correctional facili-
ty.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends the correction law by adding a new section
to require that inmates being released from state correctional facili-
ties be provided with information about the prevention of human immune-
deficiency 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 pris-
ons 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 effect 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 begin-
ning 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 communi-
ty. Researchers discovered that the increase in AIDS among black Ameri-
cans 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 them-
selves.

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.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A.8849-A of 2007/2008;
A.8384-B of 2009/2010;
A.614 of 2011/2012;
A.3496 of 2013/2014;
A.3287 of 2015/2016;
A.1805-A of 2017/2018.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

Minimal.

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