Criminal justice system must be fixed; Make HIV tests a priority | Letters

A cell in the Metropolitan Corrections Center in New York.(AP Photo)

Justice system drives parolees back to jail

In the 1970s, our nation's policy-makers embraced a drug war and clamored to appear tough on crime and the United States Senate led the way.

With bi-partisan determination, Federal laws were changed, punishments were put on steroids, and our prison population exploded.  Say hello to the New Jim Crow.  Federal Laws such as 1980s Anti-Drug Abuse Act and 1994s crime bill sent a flood of money into states to incarcerate more Americans and build more prisons to hold them.

As a result, the federal prison population has expanded 800 percent since 1980.  America has become the undisputed global leader in putting her citizens in jail.  Our nation is home to 5 percent of the worlds' population, but incarcerates 25 percent of the worlds' prison population. In the land of the free, you have more of a chance of losing your freedom than anywhere else on earth.

If you are born in America today and you are white, you have a one in seventeen chance of going to jail; if you are Latino one in six, if you are Black one in three.  If you go to prison for a non-violent crime, you will return to your neighborhood/society as part of a growing group of second class citizens who are often denied basic citizenship rights such as the right to vote and serve on a jury.

If you have a felony conviction, you often find overwhelming obstacles in getting a job, obtaining housing, receiving a license to start a business, being approved for a loan, getting a drivers' license, receiving job training, having access to drug treatment, finding educational opportunities or finding money for your next meal.

Faced with diminished options, minimal support and few models of success to emulate, many return to lives of crime.  Unfortunately, about 77 percent of all released prisoners are rearrested within five years.

Our broken criminal justice system has to be reformed.

William C. Braker, President Emeritus, Jersey City Branch NAACP

Fulop must make STI/HIV testing a priority

Mayor Steven Fulop's administration must work to reduce barriers to accessing preventative services for sexually transmitted infections (STI's) and HIV/AIDS testing by appropriating more funds to the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services free Preventative Medicine STD/HIV clinic.

In Jersey City, 1 in 42 African Americans is living with HIV. According to the Hudson County Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Supplemental Plan 2017-2021, "Communities of color within Hudson County continue to be disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS." African American and/or Hispanic Jersey City residents living with HIV represent 81% of those infected in the City. Jersey City's HIV rate is nearly three times that of the state of New Jersey's HIV rate.

According to the 2015 American Community Survey, 20% of Jersey City's population lives in poverty and 19% of residents under the age of 65 do not have health insurance. Poverty estimates for the African American community in Jersey City range from 27% to 32%. People of lower socioeconomic status have increased risks for poor health outcomes.

The socioeconomic issues associated with poverty, including limited access to health care, lower quality housing, and lower educational attainment are closely correlated to an increase in the risk of HIV infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "...these factors may explain why African Americans have worse outcomes on the HIV continuum of care, including lower rates of linkage to care and viral suppression." (CDC, 2016).

The Fulop administration is addressing the social determinants of health with upstream solutions, including more affordable housing, raising the minimum wage, paid sick leave and expanding parks and green spaces, however there is an immediate need for increased access to HIV screening and treatment for Jersey City's highest risk populations.

The Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services Preventative Medicine STUI/HIV public clinic conducts free STD and HIV testing and offers free STI treatment and HIV referrals. Unfortunately, the clinic is only open three days a week for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, constituting a barrier to access for people who cannot leave work or families to attend clinic hours.

The Fulop administration must prioritize funding the Preventative Clinic to provide STI and HIV screening, treatment and referrals 7 days a week, 18 hours a day. Additionally, the administration should seek funding for a mobile HIV/AIDS/STD screening clinic stocked with rapid HIV tests, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to reduce barriers to HIV services for all of Jersey City's residents.  It is imperative that the administration prioritize health access equity to slow the rate of new HIV infections in Jersey City.

Meghan Gosselink, Masters of Public Health Candidate, Montclair State University

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