On May 22, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security held a hearing on the Stop AIDS in Prison Act of 2007 (H.R. 1943) and the Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007 (H.R. 1199).
Sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), H.R. 1943 would require the Bureau of Prisons (BoP) to develop a comprehensive policy to provide pre- and post-test HIV counseling, prevention, and treatment for inmates in federal prisons, including pregnant women. H.R. 1199 would extend the Drug Endangered Children (DEC) program, authorized by the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-177), through FY2009. The DEC program allows the attorney general to make grants to states to provide social services to children who have been affected by the manufacture or sale of methamphetamine or other controlled substances.
In her opening statement, Rep. Waters said, “HIV/AIDS is spreading especially rapidly among women and racial minorities. In 1985, women accounted for a mere 8 percent of new AIDS cases; by 2005 they accounted for 27 percent… African American women account for an astonishing 67 percent of new AIDS cases among women, and over 70 percent of new AIDS cases overall are found among people of color.” Rep. Waters acknowledged that little is known about the “lifestyles of those who enter our nation’s prisons,” and that “there is usually no official acknowledgement that sexual activity whether consensual or otherwise is taking place in prisons.” Because so little is known, she recommended routine HIV/AIDS testing for prison inmates. Such routine testing would prevent inmates from “return[ing] to society without knowing their HIV status [where] they could infect their spouse or other persons in their community.” In closing, she said, “I firmly believe that 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.”
The first panel consisted of one witness, Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), sponsor of the Drug Endangered Children Act. Rep. Cardoza said, “Drug endangered children present unique challenges for law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, child protective services, social service agencies, health care providers, and other government entities.” He continued, “These children are often traumatized and abused, and they require special attention and care to transition into a safe and healthy residential environment.” Rep. Cardoza praised similar federal/state law enforcement programs, including the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant Assistance Program, saying they have been “extremely effective” in addressing public safety. “By funding coordination across jurisdictions and among several different types of government agencies, the DEC program would foster cooperative efforts to address the needs of children affected by drug abuse. These grants would leverage the federal government’s investment by offering an incentive for local governments to invest their own money in confronting this important problem,” he said. In closing, Rep. Cardoza urged his colleagues to support the measure, saying, “I strongly believe that the Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007 would improve the lives of the more than 1.6 million children across the country impacted by parental drug abuse.”
The second panel of witnesses testified about HIV/AIDS and correctional facilities.
Vincent Jones, executive director of the Center for Health Justice in Los Angeles, said that the rate of HIV infection among inmates is disproportionately high when compared to the general population. Mr. Jones said that HIV testing is critical given that “over 90 percent of people in prison or jail return to their communities in a short period of time, bringing back to their communities the effects of poor HIV medical treatment and prevention efforts inside [the correctional facility].” Calling education “the simplest and most cost-effective way to address the HIV epidemic,” Mr. Jones applauded the measure’s provisions to make educational materials available at regular intervals during incarceration, including prior to release. He also said that the testing of pregnant women is critical because “[w]e know that we can stop the transmission of HIV from a mother to her child if the appropriate treatment is given at the right time.” He did express concern that one provision allowing the BoP to test a prisoner following exposure to another HIV-positive inmate might make “prisoners living with HIV the subject of scrutiny rather than members of our community to be supported with increased counseling and testing and educational resources.”
Philip Fornaci, director of the D.C. Prisoners’ Project at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, said he supported the measure’s provisions, but recommended several changes to strengthen its privacy provisions. He recommended that all prisoners provide written consent prior to undergoing HIV testing to “preserve inmates’ free choice to exercise their opt-out right.” Mr. Fornaci said he “hope[d] that, with enactment of this legislation, the BoP will take this legislative mandate [to provide treatment to HIV-positive inmates] seriously, effectively monitoring its facilities to ensure that every prisoner’s serious medical needs are being met. At this point, no such effective monitoring process is in place.” Like Mr. Jones, Mr. Fornaci raised concerns about the confidentiality of inmates’ HIV status. He said that the bill should be amended to include a requirement that only medical staff have access to prisoners’ medical information. Mr. Fornaci said that the bill should include legal remedies for inmates whose privacy has been violated; without the right to sue, “there is no way for a prisoner to enforce the confidentiality provisions of this bill, nor is there any way to recover damages for the terror, mental anguish, and threats that would result from a confidentiality breach.”
Also testifying were Willie Mitchell, chair of the San Antonio Fighting Back in San Antonio, Texas, and Devon Brown, director of the Department of Corrections for the District of Columbia.
