The State - News from Aug. 6, 1987

A public interest attorney whose group is investigating prison health care told state lawmakers that California “has failed to adequately respond to AIDS in prison.” Anita Arriola of Public Advocates Inc., a nonprofit public interest law firm, told the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Prisons that a physician is available to AIDS-stricken inmates at Vacaville prison only once a week, that emergency medical care is slow in coming and that the clinic staff is reluctant to care for acquired immune deficiency syndrome victims. Dr. Nicholas Poulas, chief physician at Vacaville, responded with a general denial of the claims, saying that a doctor who was available once a week to the AIDS wings now shows up twice a week. Dr. Nadim Khoury, the chief of health services for the state Department of Corrections, said the level of care for the victims of the fatal disease is greater than is available outside of prison.