Firstly let me say this is not intended to offend anyone.
The question is one that alot of people don't like to talk about but it is an issue that does arise from prisons and is reality and can effect your health and well being. So!!!

Does the DOC/DOJ have a moral obligation to tell you if your partner has entered into a male to male or female to female sexual relationship where this relation could put you at risk in contracting a transmittable desease, such as HIV, once the prisoner is released from custody.

In Australia it is an offence to have sex with someone if you have HIV or alike without informing that person of the hazard. In a lot of cases the prisoners partner is not told of the hazard and in to many cases they find out when its to late.

At the moment the DOC/DOJ are not oblidged to tell you about the relationship or if the prisoner has contracted a desease whilst in prison, do you think that it should be a legislated notifiable procedure to inform the prisoners partner of the risk or not.

I know this is a sensitive topic , and believe me is not intended to offend but just put up for general consensus!!!

I am not in Austrailia, but yes I think the partners out here should be told if there is a risk. But I think the prison should do a test before release Alot of these people out here are wives/husbands who have been with the inmate for a long time, and alot of them won't think about using protection just as they didnt before the inmate went in.
I have planned on taking my guy down to get all the tests done when he gets out.
Living in close quarters like that is a risk. That's what the jail told me.
I think the prison should do a test to see if they have any diseases before they leave.Also do the test before they tell the wife/girlfriend that they are at risk.

In todays world, moral obligations are often halted by the law. Here in the U.S. its against a persons right to privacy for anyone to reveal their medical condition. The DOC must adhere to the law before they can allow anything else.

Agreed!!! and it is the same in Australia, but the question was:



At the moment the DOC/DOJ are not oblidged to tell you about the relationship or if the prisoner has contracted a desease whilst in prison, do you think that it should be a legislated notifiable procedure to inform the prisoners partner of the risk or not.




In debating this question , the answers should also be extended to include the rights of the prisoners partner as well.

Is the opinion of PTO readers that legislation should be enacted to offer them protection as well, or are they happy the way things are.

I doubt if legislation like this would pass for the very reason I stated that the DOC cannot release the information. If the Legislation passed a notification procedure such as this it would have to extend beyond the prison walls to everyone in the country and more than likely would extend beyond STD's, HIV, etc. Such a law would never pass.

Its MY personal opnion that any couple getting ready to engage in an intimate relationship go for testing together. Its not the legal systems obligation to inform me of my partners health issues, its his and mine. In this day and age I would never engage in sexual practices with someone I could not trust or who would not agree to be tested as a show of faith toward me as I would him.

Doesn't the DOC have to alert the Health Department who in turns gets a list of everyone who had sexual contact with that person to make them aware? That's what I thought was supposed to happen. I know if you go to the doctor and your test results are positive for certain diseases they must call the Health Department and report it. I think there should be legislation. I think they should test these men and women when they go in and before they get out. I know here in Maryland they do ask you if you have any diseases and they give you a TB test. I'm not sure about the HIV test.

Sure, DOC has a moral obligation to tell wives/girlfriends, etc. if the about-to- be released person is infected with HIV, but I doubt that this will happen anytime soon because of the legal ramifications. I don't know about all prison systems, but the Florida DOC tests all inmates before they are released....but the thing is that the inmate has to be willing to be tested. And unless the inmate voluntarily tells others of his diagnosis, neither he nor the prison system is required by law to tell anyone else. They require sex offenders to be known in their communities, and people that get syphilis/gonorrhea are tracked in the community by the infected person's contact list, but this has not happened yet for HIV/AIDS. I would like to hope that everyone who has a loved one in prison will require that that person show written proof to their family that they are HIV-free before anyone has intimate contact with the newly-released person.
Be reminded that not everyone who becomes HIV-positive in prison does so because he has willingly participated in a sexual liason; rape is as real in prison as it is on the street. And another thought, HIV can also be transferred by unsterile tattoo needles, and I doubt that there are any sterile tattoo needles in the prison system.
I, too, am not trying to hurt anyone or start any trouble but this has bothered me since the first time I realized that there is a problem with HIV in the prison system and I didn't know what to do about it because I knew there was no way to let the family know, legally, that their loved one was infected, especially if the inmate was not willing to share this.

Good points Taffy

I am impressed that Florida has taken the stance it has in testing prisoners prior to release, the question is then why haven't the other prisons done the same.
Taffy I agree with your points about other deseases being tracked and reported but I can't understand why they don't see it as important for HIV or indeed any other major desease which can be transmitted in prisons.
Prisons by nature have a greater population of people who are in the high risk category confined in a smaller place and conversly a higher risk of transmission and you are right it can be transmitted in a number of ways.

This is a serious matter indeed, given that contracting HIV is in fact a death sentence in itself, correct me if I'm wrong but there is still no cure. I hear what every one is saying about privacy laws and medical confidentiality but if someones life is put in danger to me the moral obligation should overide the privacy one.

In law, I am led to believe that if a person becomes aware that a crime is going to be committed or has been committed and they don't report it then they are deemed an accessory after the fact and are guilty of the same offence. If a person who knows that a person has a desease which could harm or kill another person and does not report it or tell the person of the harm which could be caused to them ie: the DOC/DOJ, then aren't they also contributing to the crime , irrespective of legislation pertaining to privacy.

Interesting topic for discussion, thanks Taffy I value your opinion and thanks to the others who have posted good to talk these things out an not hide them in a cupboard for as much as we try , "They Don't Go away do they"

Sugargallon.... Yes HIV is reported to the Health Department, but the health department can only contact the people on a list and tell them that "someone" who tested positive put their name on a sexual contact list. They cannot tell them who the person was.

I agree that all of those incarcerated should be tested both coming in and going out. However, even if the prison were to test my husband when he comes out...he will still go to the doctor out in the streets just to make sure.

Everyone in the U.S. - the prisons, the Health Department, doctors, etc. have to follow HIPPA regulations to protect your privacy. As long as those regulations are there, there will never be legislation for notification to be given freely.

When I was in custody, at no stage did DOCS ever tell us this other inmate was HIV positive (I wont go into details other than say that a nurse was stupid enough to leave a document on a table after the inmate had her regular "blood test"). Having HIV is like carrying a knife. Its a death sentence is she infected anyone during a fight. What I dont understand is why DOCS is reluctant to keep these prisoners segregated if they know that prisoner is positive. They are open to a lawsuit but then again as I've said before.. their attitude is the lives of prisoners dont really count...

What I dont understand is why DOCS is reluctant to keep these prisoners segregated if they know that prisoner is positive. They are open to a lawsuit but then again as I've said before.. their attitude is the lives of prisoners dont really count...
Actually I think the desegregation of HIV inmates is the one instance where the DOC is treating inmates like humans. Saying that people should be segregated in the prison system because of illness is like saying that anyone in society with that illness should be shipped out to an island. In prison, you are supposed to learn to function in society...to deal with those hardest to deal with. If knowing that someone could have HIV won't stop you from fighting nothing will. I know that I would not start a fight on the street with anyone, or for that matter attempt to help anyone involved in a trauma that I did not know very well. You just never know.

To the original question, I don't think that the DOC should be regulated to inform loved ones of prisoners of their HIV status. HIV and AIDS are still very taboo in society, some places moreso than others. Just a hint of someone having the virus getting around a small community could forever ruin thier chances of being able to have a decent life. They are tested upon release for their own knowledge, not for the knowledge of anyone else. Their information should be kept confidencial just as anyone else would expect from their health care provider. Besides all of that, just because someone walks out the door of the prison with a negative status does not mean that they are actually negative. HIV is not something that immediately shows up in your system.

Just an FYI - I work in the health care field in a mental health setting. It is against our patients rights for me to be told that they have an STD, HIV or any other communicable disease. Its not even posted in their regular record! If the patient chooses to tell the staff, thats fine, but otherwise we are not informed.

As a Health Care Worker I am expected to use Universal Precautions on all patients. I have taken it upon myself to educate my family, friends and even often my patients on safety when sharing rooms, bathrooms, etc. with others. One of the biggest keys to prevention is education. Learn Universal Precautions and share them with your loved one!

I would disagree. We're not talking about any illness. We're talking about HIV. There is no cure for HIV. Placing HIV inmates with other prisoners is a potential timebomb. It's not just about the rights of HIV positive inmates, it's about the rights of *all* inmates. When you go to prison you expect to do your time without any threats to your health or wellbeing. I'm not speaking as a civil libertarian who can sit behind a desk all day, I am speaking as someone who has actually done time, time with HIV positive inmates and believe me some of them wouldnt hesitate to use their condition for advantage in a fight. I have been stood over in prison by someone who was HIV positive and if it wasn't for the fact that I knew she had the disease I would have defended myself fists and all.

Medea
Thankyou for your contribution, yes what your saying is right, and now forms other questions to be considered by all. We have been talking about the rights of the prisoners partner to know if they are in danger, when it can be expanded to include the rights of other prisoners, whilst we all have to repect the rights to privacy, and the law says we must and of course separation is not the answer either, my problem is that we put people in danger real danger and their familys purely to protect privacy.

This does not sit right with me , think about it , they are willing to put you and your familiy at risk, they are willing to put other prisoners and their family at risk just to protect someones privacy how could you explain that to the children of mothers and fathers lost to HIV or indeed any other transmittable desease contracted in prison, prisoners are not there by choice and we deprive them of every right and now it appears we are also taking their right to live , NOW THATS CRIMINAL, and those responsible should be put in prison to get a taste of their own medicine.

Medea keep posting , I hear you

I don't think the Department should be under an obgliation to tell a prisoner's partner that the prisoner is in a relationship. Prisoners have rights. They should be respected. I'm not saying it's ok for a prisoner to go behind his/her partner's back. Not at all. But I really think there are very powerful and important privacy rights in issue.

Whether the Department should be obliged to inform you of your partner contracting a disease is a slightly different question. But again... why should prisoners be treated any differently to any other patients? If the answer to the question is "yes" then it should also oblige a doctor to tell his patient's wife that her husband has a disease. Clearly these are matters that should be left for the individual.

Perhaps it might be helpful (and this may already be done for all I know) to counsel prisoners who have contracted HIV etc and ensure that they appreciate the risk posed to their partners. This should also include legal advice about the criminality of having a sexual intercourse while knowingly being a carrier.

I agree lightkeeper

You can't just take those kind of rights from prisoners, if nothing else it opens a floodgate to take those privacy rights from everybody. I think information, legal advice and testing should be available if not standard before release. As for informing the partner about diseases or sexual partners, I think this is far too big of a breach of privacy. Everybody needs to be able to trust their partners, and if they would lie to you about such a serious thing thats a big deal too. However living in such close quarters does make it possible to contract the disease (probably even without sexual contact) so tests and information should be provided.

Imagine if you went to the doctor and he called everyone you knew and informed them of all the results...