The number of HIV/AIDS cases in state and federal prisons dropped in 2005 from the previous year, making it the sixth consecutive year that the number has fallen, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.
At the end of 2005, there were 22,480 state and federal inmates living with HIV or AIDS, compared to 22,936 at the end of 2004.
AIDS-related deaths in prisons decreased from 2004 to 2005, and except for 2001, deaths due to AIDS-related illnesses have gone down every year since 1995. The report also showed that though the rate of confirmed AIDS cases is still about 2.5 times as high in prisons as it is in the general population, the gap has decreased since 1999, when the rate among prisoners was almost five times higher.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
