World AIDS Day: HIV In L.A. County Lockups 600 Percent Higher Than Outside
The inmate populations of Los Angeles county lockups have an HIV infection rate that's 600 percent above that of the general population.
HIV is way higher in L.A. County's lockups than in its general population.
Welcome to World AIDS Day 2010.
La Opinion newspaper (translation) is marking the occasion Wednesday by noting the outsize number of local jail dwellers who have contracted the virus.
About two percent of the 5,000 inmates at the county's Men's Central Jail, for example, have tested positive HIV, according to the paper. That compares to a one percent rate in other prisons and a 0.33 percent rate in the general population.
Latinos, African-Americans and women are more likely to have HIV in county lockups, the paper reports.
The number could actually be higher because most testing in L.A. County's jails is voluntary.
Sexual activity among inmates, says La Opinion, can make the numbers even worse.
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