 Hepatitis C Prevalent among U.S. Inmates
Medical and prison experts report that Hepatitis C infects 40 percent of the population in U.S. prisons and jails, but little is being done about it. Hepatitis C is common among intravenous drug users. The virus is spread through contact with human blood. It can lead to life-threatening liver damage, liver cancer, or liver failure.
"The prevalence of this disease is believed to be 30 to 40 percent of the prison population, depending on the state," said Anne Degroot, a doctor who treats AIDS and hepatitis patients in the Connecticut prison system and heads a prison health education project at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Despite the growing problem, experts say prison authorities are doing little to combat hapatitis infection. That's because most state prison systems do not require testing of inmates, or do so only on a voluntary basis. Prison activists argue that prison authorities don't want to know if inmates are infected with Hepatitis C because once they do know, they are obliged to offer costly treatment.
Drug treatment for Hepatitis C could cost up to $12,000 a year for each patient. "The incarcerated population is the only population in this country that has a constitutional right to health care," said Barry Zack of Centerforce Inc, a non-profit organization that offers HIV and hepatitis education to inmates of California's San Quentin state prison. "If they find something, they have to treat it at the same standard as that which prevails in the outside community. The implications are enormous. People used to think that treating prisoners with HIV would break the bank. That's nothing compared to what treating Hepatitis C would do."
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