U.S. care for HIV detainees falls short: report

U.S. care for HIV detainees falls short: report
Immigrants hold up their remaining belongings after being caught in the Arizona desert and brought to the U.S. Border Patrol detention center in Nogales, Arizona, May 31, 2006. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to provide adequate care to immigrant detainees with HIV, putting their health and lives at risk, Human Rights Watch charged on Friday. (Jeff Topping/Reuters)NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of HomelandSecurity has failed to provide adequate care to immigrantdetainees with HIV, putting their health and lives at risk,Human Rights Watch charged on Friday.
In a 71-page report, whose findings were challenged byHomeland Security, the rights group said the agency denied,delayed or interrupted treatment for HIV-positive detainees inimmigration custody.
The department's detention guidelines for people withHIV/AIDS failed to meet national and international standardsfor appropriate care, the report said, adding the agency didlittle to enforce its own minimal standards.
The report said without improved standards for medicalcare, internal oversight and accountability to the public,"immigrant detainees with HIV/AIDS will continue to needlesslysuffer, and in some cases, die in U.S. immigration detention."
The report detailed the treatment of several people who itsaid either died or became resistant to AIDS drugs and receivedincomplete dosages. Most were not identified by their fullnames.
A cellmate of Victoria Arellano, a 23-year-old transgenderdetainee with HIV/AIDS, said in an interview with Human RightsWatch that after Arellano began to vomit blood, "(she) was toldonly to take Tylenol and drink large amounts of water ... shedied a week later."
There were 47 detainees with HIV in facilities run by U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, a division of theHomeland Security Department, through April 2007, Human RightsWatch spokeswoman Rebecca Schleifer said.
Detainees also are held in other facilities such as localjails and regional centers, where the government does not trackthe number of people with HIV, she added.
Asked about the report, ICE spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said,"ICE provides excellent care to the detainees in our custody,it's an absolute priority with us.
"We spend nearly $100 million every year on detainee healthcare," she said.
About a quarter of the 300,000 people whom ICE processeseach year are diagnosed with chronic health problems, and manylearn about them only when ICE doctors tell them, she said.
On any given day, there are about 30,000 detainees at eightfacilities run by Customs officers, seven run by privatecontractors and about 400 local and state facilities such asjails, Nantel said.
The report asks the government to increase the number offacility inspections, revise medical standards for detaineecare, enhance protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender and HIV-positive detainees and increase access toHIV testing.
(Editing by Christine Kearney and Peter Cooney)