Mission:

Inform policy-makers of empirical knowledge on health care issues about individuals under the supervision of the criminal and justice systems in the State of Texas.  These individuals include probationers, parolees, inmates, detainees, and others persons under the authority of the State of Texas.

Establish working relationships with criminal justice officials at local, state, and federal levels and with community stakeholders, including faith-based outreach programs and direct services providers to ensure that research objectives address important health issues.

Key Priorities:

Assess the causes of risky health behaviors among individuals under the authority of the criminal and juvenile justice systems, including law enforcement, courts, and corrections.

Evaluate the extent of the following diseases among the key populations:

            HIV/AIDS

            Hepatitis C

Focus research objectives on the racial and ethnic minority groups (particularly African Americans) who are over-represented in the criminal and juvenile justice systems and have simultaneously a high risk for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.

Pending Activities:

Submit a grant proposal (January 2007) to the National Institutes of Health in response to (PA 06-068, Drug Abuse as a Cause, Correlate, or Consequence of Criminal Justice Related Health Disparities among African Americans) (R01)

African Americans continue to be affected by HIV/AIDS, especially those who are illegal drug users and those involved with the criminal justice system, including prisons, probation, parole and other forms of community supervision. Social scientist can provide an important public service by generating information about the prevalence, incidence, and norms surrounding this disease in that population. The proposed study would collect data on the risky behaviors of persons in community supervision programming.  While the extent of HIV/AIDS amongst persons supervised by the criminal justice system is a national concern, Texas is a particularly troublesome case as because it does not test its jail, prison, or community supervision population for HIV/AIDS or other communicable diseases upon entry. Little empirical analyses of the extent of HIV/AIDS in criminal and juvenile justice population are available.  In the proposed project, we will survey persons who are under community supervision (e.g., probation and parole) about their risky behaviors.  These behaviors include unprotected sexual activity, multiple sexual partners, intravenous drug use, and needle-sharing. Of particular interest will be African Americans and substance users who would be over-sampled in the study.