Pubdate: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 Source: Sanford Herald, The (NC) Copyright: The Sanford Herald 2001 Contact: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1577 Website: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd48 Author: Tim Preston, Herald Staff Writer IS WAR ON DRUGS CREATING HIV EPIDEMIC IN AMERICA? SANFORD - America's "war on drugs" may have sponsored an epidemic within an epidemic, according to Dr. David Alain Wohl of the University of North Carolina AIDS Research and Treatment Center. Speaking to health, corrections and social workers during a roundtable discussion Thursday about HIV/AIDS in the nation's prisons and jails, Wohl said some people become infected with HIV after they are incarcerated, but most come into jail or prison with the virus active in their bodies. "In 1996, one in five HIV-infected people came through jail or prison," Wohl said. He added the HIV infection rate for prison inmates is 5.5 times higher than it is in general population - a result of increased arrests of people with a history of substance abuse. Health officials have missed incredible opportunities to screen, treat and counsel infected people as they were processed through city and county jails, and the state's prisons, he said. Because of the numbers involved, Wohl said action needs to be taken to change the state and local approach to health care for those in the system. "There are now 6.5 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons in America. We have the largest prison population on the planet - more than China. And, the rate is increasing every year," Wohl said, displaying graphs illustrating that black males are "disproportionately" arrested and sentenced. "If one wanted to create a perfect system to lock up black males - we've almost done that," Wohl said, adding "Nine percent of the black male population is incarcerated. "When you target men in a specific community, what happens to the community back home? It creates disruptions for the women who are left behind," he said, noting the likelihood of replacement sex partners and the particular risk of HIV exposure after inmates return to the community. "These social disruptions are at a cost that was unforeseen. Simply having a partner in prison increases the opportunity for exposure." Wohl, who works with the state's three prison HIV clinics, said almost every inmate released from prison has two priorities - to eat at McDonald's and then to have sex - "often within an hour of release." "People don't stay in prison forever. In North Carolina, men average about three years and women about six months. The person in prison today could be sitting next to you on the bus tomorrow," Wohl said. HIV is "dangerously concentrated" in the nation's prisons, Wohl said, but there has been little increase in the amount of drug treatment funding available for prisoners. To address the problem, Wohl said corrections officers, social workers and health care providers should drastically increase efforts to screen incarcerated people for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as hepatitis, and provide appropriate health care for those infected along with transmission-risk education in prisons and "more paternal" discharge plans for those being released from custody. "And, we need to re-think this war on drugs and decide if we can afford it," he said, adding that slogans like "three strikes and your out" and "get tough on crime" may sound good as part of political campaigns, but may ultimately erode quality of life in this country. - --- MAP posted-by: Lou King