STOP AIDS IN PRISON ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - September 25, 2007)
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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, before I give my statement on this legislation, I'd sincerely like to thank Mr. LAMAR SMITH, my colleague on the opposite side of the aisle who was the author of this legislation in the last Congress and who has worked with me so much and so well to bring this legislation before us today. I'm very thankful to him. We have 43 cosponsors on this bill, and I'd also like to thank Mr. RANDY FORBES and Mr. LUIS FORTUÑO who are on the opposite side of the aisle who worked with us on this bill; but all of the Members who came together to get this legislation to this point today are to be appreciated because it was somewhat controversial when Mr. Smith first brought the idea to us. And, of course, I would like to thank Judiciary Committee Chairman JOHN CONYERS for all of his support for this legislation.
This particular legislation takes us back 25 years after AIDS was discovered; the AIDS virus continues to spread. About 1.7 million Americans have been infected by HIV since the beginning of the epidemic, and there are 1.2 million Americans living with HIV today. Every year, there are 40,000 new HIV infections and 17,000 new AIDS-related deaths in the United States.
We need to take the threat of HIV/AIDS seriously and confront it in every institution of our society. That includes our Nation's prison system, and that is why this bill is so important.
The Stop AIDS in Prison Act requires the Federal Bureau of Prisons to develop a comprehensive policy to provide HIV testing, treatment and prevention for inmates in Federal prisons. The bill requires the Bureau of Prisons to test all prison inmates for HIV upon entering prison and again prior to release from prison, unless the inmate absolutely opts out of taking the test.
The bill requires HIV/AIDS prevention education for all inmates and comprehensive treatment for those inmates who test positive. Language was included to protect the confidentiality of inmate tests, diagnosis, and treatment and to require that inmates receive pre-test and post-test counseling so that they will understand the meaning of HIV test results.
In 2005, the Department of Justice reported that the rate of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons was three times higher than in the general population. The Department of Justice also reported that 2 percent of the State prison inmates and 1.1 percent of Federal prison inmates were known to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2003.
However, the actual rate of HIV infection in our Nation's prisons is simply unknown, and it could be considerably higher.
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This is because prison officials do not consistently test prisoners for HIV. The only way to determine whether HIV has been spread among prisoners is to begin routine HIV testing of all prison inmates. This bill does that.
This bill has been endorsed by a number of prominent HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations, including AIDS Action, the AIDS Institute, the National Minority AIDS Council, the AIDS Health Care Foundation, the HIV Medicine Association, AIDS Project Los Angeles, and Bienestar; that happens to be a Latino community service and advocacy organization. The bill also has been endorsed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and even the Los Angeles Times.
Mr. Speaker and Members, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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