Tennessee: Lawmaker Wants All Inmates to Be Tested for HIV

Proposed legislation that would require state inmates to be tested for HIV upon leaving the correctional system would help reduce the number of new infections among black women, said the its sponsor, Rep. Brenda Gilmore (D-Nashville).

About 1 percent of the state's 19,563 prisoners have HIV/AIDS, according to the state health and correction departments. "That number is just part of a complicated set of facts that end with African-American communities, African-American women in particular, deeply affected by this disease," said Gilmore. Tennessee's inmate population is disproportionately black and male, and ex-prisoners typically return to their communities and intimate relationships within them.

"I feel that I have to say that this is not because black women are more promiscuous," Gilmore added. "This is about social networks and the way the disease is spread. We should face that and create some public policy that will save women's lives."

Currently, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDC) only tests inmates under age 21 for HIV. HB 0052 and SB 0706 would make HIV testing mandatory for all inmates upon release. Texas has required such testing since 1995.

Neither TDC nor the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, which operates six state prisons, has taken an official position on the measures, said agency and company representatives. SB 0706 is scheduled to go before a Senate subcommittee on April 15. Gilmore proposed similar legislation last year.

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