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.
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