ANNAPOLIS – The House Environmental Matters Committee Friday recommended passage of a bill to establish a task force to study HIV in state prisons.
The committee’s 20 to 1 vote sends to the full House an amended version of the bill sponsored by Del. Shirley Nathan- Pulliam, D-Baltimore. The change adds representatives of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Maryland Classified Employees Association to the task force.
Currently, 460 inmates housed by the Department of Corrections are living with AIDS, said Liza Solomon, director of AIDS Administration for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The task force would study issues of treatment, the prevalence of HIV, confidentiality and the climate in prison facilities.
“The whole idea is to be able to get those people together before we mandate things,” Nathan-Pulliam said. -30-