October 2, 2007

HIV Drops, AIDS Cases Rise in Maryland Prisons

Maryland is the state with the highest number of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons in the nation, according to a new study by the U.S. Justice Department.

The study looked at 41 states at the end of 2005 and found that the number of confirmed prison AIDS cases in Maryland doubled from 204 in 2004 to more than 400 in 2005.

The report showed that HIV prevalence among Maryland’s inmates was 1.8 percent. The states with the next highest rates were Connecticut, New York and Delaware, at 1.1 percent each.

These results contrast with recent data from the Justice Department that shows a drop in HIV cases among inmates in recent years. This data showed that the number of Maryland inmates who tested positive for HIV dropped to 671 in 2005, down from 792 the previous year.