Skip to main content
CDC Website

Incarcerated Persons

Mass Incarceration, Housing Instability and HIV/AIDS: Research Findings and Policy Recommendations

This issue brief synthesizes existing research findings on housing status, incarceration and HIV health; examines the available evidence from housing-based HIV interventions; and offers evidence-based recommendations for action to increase housing stability and improve post-release outcomes for persons living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and for their communities.

Fenced In: HIV/AIDS in the US Criminal Justice System

This report discusses the structural barriers in correctional facilities when dealing with HIV and inmates. It states that four times as many people in prison have HIV than in the general population, which is a concern for everyone, not just those in prison.

New Attitudes & Strategies: A Comprehensive Approach to Preventing Blood-Borne Infections Among IDUs

This brochure discusses a comprehensive approach to preventing blood-borne infections among injection drug users (IDUs). It provides statistics on HIV/AIDS and hepatitis and briefly discusses the role of IDUs in the transmission of these blood-borne diseases. CDC is advocating a comprehensive approach to working with IDUs, which incorporates strategies that take into account the differing sociocultural characteristics of IDUs and incorporates several basic principles that serve as a framework for action.

Routine Jail-Based HIV Testing – Rhode Island, 2000-2007

This report describes HIV testing by the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) to assess HIV case identification, characterize HIV risk factors, and estimate the proportion of detainees who might not have been tested if testing had been delayed. Since 1991, RIDOC has offered testing routinely to every person admitted as part of the initial medical evaluation conducted within 24 hours of jail admission. Records of HIV testing of detainees during 2000-2007 were reviewed. About 102,229 tests were administered, and 169 detainees were diagnosed.

Stepwise Approach for Detecting, Evaluating, and Treating Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection: Federal Bureau fo Prisons Clinical Practice Guidelines

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Stepwise Approach for Detecting, Evaluating, and Treating Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection provides recommendations for the medical management of federal inmates with chronic hepatitis B, or who are otherwise at risk of infection. The treatment of chronic hepatitis B in pregnancy or with hepatocellular carcinoma is beyond the scope of this guideline. For a more in-depth discussion of vaccination strategies and management of blood and body fluid exposures, the reader should refer to the BOP Clinical Practice Guidelines for those topics.

Evaluation and Treatment of Hepatitis C and Cirrhosis: Federal Bureau of Prisons Clinical Practice Guidelines

This report presents guidelines for diagnosing, evaluating, and treating hepatitis C in persons incarcerated in Federal government prisons. It explains the transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV), acute HCV infection and its treatment; chronic HCV infection; and a stepwise approach for detecting, evaluating, and treating chronic HCV infection. It discusses the direct-acting antiviral agents for treatment of chronic HCV infection that were FDA approved in May 2011, and their use, the indications and contraindications for triple therapy, managing side effects, and monitoring treatment response.