A Virginia Department of Corrections spokesperson said that as of April, 420 state inmates were known to be HIV-positive. In 2000, the state had 550 known HIV-positive inmates, or just under 2 percent of its 30,000 inmates. The national prison average for that year was 2 percent, which is about four times higher than the average for the U.S. population. In 2000, 6 percent of all state inmate deaths were due to AIDS, down from the peak of 32 percent in 1995. As of the end of 2000, 2.2 percent of state inmates and 0.8 percent of federal inmates throughout the United States were known to be HIV-infected, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Both the confirmed number of AIDS cases in all prisons -- 5,528 -- and AIDS-related deaths -- 174 -- were down from previous years.

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