Corrections.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics presents HIV in Prisons and Jails, 2002. This annual bulletin provides the number of HIV-positive and active AIDS cases among state and federal prisoners at year-end 2002. It features the number of AIDS-related deaths in prisons, a profile of those inmates who died, the number of female and male prisoners with AIDS, and a comparison of AIDS rates for the general and prisoner populations. Based on the 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, the report contains estimates of HIV infection among jail inmates by age, gender, race, education, marital status, current offense, and selected risk factors, such as prior drug use. It also includes information on AIDS-related deaths among jail inmates. Highlights include the following: between 1998 and 2002, the number of HIV-positive prisoners decreased about 7 percent, while the overall prison population grew almost 11 percent; at year-end 2002, 3 percent of all female state prison inmates were HIV positive, compared to 1.9 percent of males; and in 2002, the overall rate of confirmed AIDS among prisoners (.48 percent) was nearly 3.5 times the rate in the U.S. general population (.14 percent). This publication is available online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/hivpj02.htm or by contacting the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 800-851-3420.