HIV+ - The National Picture

HIV is not the only epidemic: hepatitis C has replaced HIV as the fastest spreading disease behind the walls. The latest statistics show that nearly one-third of all people infected with hepatitis C in this country have passed through the correctional system. National estimates of hepatitis C in prison are 17 to 19 percent, but surveys of individual systems show up to 40 percent infection rates. Yet little is being done to treat or to educate prisoners about Hepatitis C.