Rep. Lee Plans To Introduce Bill That Aims To Provide Federal Inmates Access to Condoms
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on Saturday announced she plans to introduce a bill that aims to provide federal inmates access to condoms, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Although some jurisdictions, including San Francisco, allow condoms in prisons, most states classify condoms as contraband, according to the Chronicle. Lee's proposed legislation also would call on prisons to permit community groups to provide testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and treatment and counseling to inmates. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, AIDS prevalence among inmates is triple that in the U.S. population as a whole. In addition, black inmates are 3.5 times as likely as white inmates and 2.5 times as likely as Latino inmates to die from AIDS-related illnesses, the Chronicle reports. "When an inmate gets infected, we're all affected," Lee said on Saturday after hosting a town hall forum at Merritt College on the HIV/AIDS epidemic's impact among blacks (Heredia, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/17).
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