HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1095        FILED ON: 1/19/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1353

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

James J. O'Day

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to establish a HIV testing procedure in correctional institutions in the Commonwealth.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1095        FILED ON: 1/19/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1353

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

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An Act to establish a HIV testing procedure in correctional institutions in the Commonwealth.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

      Chapter 127 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2000 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 129D the following section:-

      Section 129E. The commissioner of correction and the keeper or superintendent of all jails and houses of correction shall allow all prisoners held in their custody the opportunity to participate in voluntary anonymous HIV testing programs upon verbal request at least one time within a one year period in the following prescribed manner:

      (a) testing shall be accomplished through the use of home testing kits to be provided upon verbal request by any prisoner of the health services unit staff at the correctional institution, jail, or house of correction at which said prisoner is currently confined, and that;

      (b) mailboxes shall be placed in locations accessible to all prisoners, and said mailboxes shall be marked with a red cross, and said mailboxes shall be clearly labeled in both the English and Spanish languages. “HIV TESTING KITS TO BE DEPOSITED HERE”, and said mailboxes shall be emptied between the hours of eleven o’clock p.m. and seven o’clock a.m. each day of the calendar year, and:

      (c) the testing of these kits shall take place as soon as possible and within medical limitations, and the results shall be posted in locations accessible to all prisoners on secure bulletin boards, in both the English and Spanish languages; the results of all testing shall be forwarded to the commissioner of public health by each superintendent of a correctional institution, and a keeper or superintendent of a jail or house of correction, and;

      (d) each prisoner that participates in said program shall receive a reduction of thirty days to be added to any deduction to which said prisoner is entitled for reducing the term of imprisonment by deduction from the maximum term for which said prisoner may be held under said prisoner’s sentence or sentences, and for reducing from the minimum term of the sentence or sentences the good conduct credits earned under this section for parole eligibility as provided under section one hundred and thirty-three, to be calculated on a day for day basis for deductions provided in sections one hundred and twenty-nine to one hundred and twenty-nine C inclusive, and;

      (e) reductions from a sentence or sentences allowed by this section shall not be subject to forfeiture, with the given exception; if a prisoner has been proven, by the evidence of a physician’s report, to have positive indication of a presence of illicit drugs as determined by a blood test, or photographic evidence of recent hypodermic needle use, said prisoner may be subject to forfeiture of any part thereof of all deductions said prisoner has accumulated under the authority of this section to date, having been afforded proper disciplinary due process, and that prisoner shall be subject to immediate testing for the presence of the HIV virus, and:

      (f) any employee authorized and mandated by this section to perform services of said HIV testing program, or any employee of a correctional facility or agency or organization contracted to perform services of said programs mandated by the authority of this section that attempts to violate, or violates any condition named in this section shall be subject to a fine of up to five thousand dollars, or a term of imprisonment of six months to two and one-half years in a house of correction for each offense said employee has been found guilty of.