CO-SPONSOR THE OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL

 HEALTH ACT OF  2003

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), we write to urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 1993 Office of Correctional Health Act of 2003 sponsored by Rep. Ted Strickland (D-OH). This bill establishes an Office of Correctional Health to coordinate health activities for individuals incarcerated in and employees of federal, state and local penal and correctional facilities.  This new division of the Department of Health and Human Services will concentrate its efforts on disease prevention, health promotion, service delivery, research and educating health professionals regarding the various health concerns of prison employees and prisoners.  A federal grant program is also created under this legislation that would make grants to states for screening, immunizations, and treatment of hepatitis for employees of correctional institutions and inmates.  

H.R. 1993 provides an important first step in protecting public health and decreasing the spread of communicable diseases. The Office of Correctional Health will respond to the needs of corrections employees who are exposed on a daily basis to infectious diseases.  A recent survey of California correctional staff found 57 percent reported blood or bodily fluid exposures at work and 37 percent believed that they did not always have time to follow universal precautions to protect themselves from infection.  This legislation would provide states with funding necessary to support prevention efforts and treat those prison employees who are infected with hepatitis A, B or C.   

In 1997 Congress commissioned an important study entitled the Health Status of Soon-to-Be-Released Inmates because of concern over the public health threat created by former prisoners returning home untreated for dangerous infectious diseases. Published last year, the report finds that up to 32 percent of the 4.5 million Americans infected with Hepatitis C in 1996 served time in a correctional facility that year.   In addition, the report finds growing numbers of incarcerated individuals suffer disproportionately from hepatitis, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, mental illness, substance addiction and many chronic diseases.  Already constrained by state budget crises, state and local departments of correction are overwhelmed by the high cost of providing medical care and face serious challenges to providing necessary treatment.  

Millions of ex-offenders leave prisons and jails every year with undiagnosed and untreated communicable disease.  Recommendations provided by medical and correctional experts in the Health Status of Soon-to-Be-Released Inmates study and in other reports find that treating inmates and correction department employees who acquire infectious diseases is more cost-effective than leaving them untreated.  

Another report recently released by the Maryland AIDS Administration examined the prevalence of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis in that state's prison and jail system.  It found that 26 percent of inmates and 31 percent of detainees are infected with Hepatitis C and 71 percent of prisoners are susceptible to Hepatitis B infection.  The report's conclusions were consistent with recommendations outlined by the Centers for Disease Control in January 2003 that urge vaccinating all prisoners for Hepatitis B and instituting treatment for qualified Hepatitis C sufferers. 

The medical needs of correctional employees and prisoners are often overlooked, but the threat to communities caused by prison staff and inmates leaving prisons and transmitting infectious diseases is a real concern and should not be ignored.  We urge you to protect the public's health by addressing the spread of disease through prison employees and prisoners by co-sponsoring H.R. 1993.

Sincerely,

Laura W. Murphy
Director

Jesselyn McCurdy
Legislative Counsel