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Michigan prisons get $1.2M to test for hepatitis C
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By Stacey Range
Lansing State Journal
Sept 30, 2004
Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday signed legislation giving $1.2 million for a new hepatitis C testing and treatment program for Michigan prisoners.
The program, included in the Department of Corrections' $1.79 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, is the state's first step in a plan to fight the spread of the potentially fatal liver disease festering inside Michigan's 42 prisons.
"By controlling the disease among the inmate population, the state is taking great strides at addressing what could otherwise become a public health issue for all Michigan citizens," Granholm said in a statement.
Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said prison officials in the next few weeks will determine how many inmates they can test and treat in the program's first year.
Granholm proposed the program earlier this year after a State Journal report in September 2003 found up to 18,000 of Michigan's 48,000 inmates are believed to harbor the virus. About 55 prisoners are being treated.
Hepatitis C is the leading cause of adult liver transplants in the United States and is expected to cause more deaths in the United States than AIDS by 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prison officials earlier this year asked lawmakers for $2.3 million to test and treat 465 inmates next year and $11 million in 2006 to treat another 3,720 prisoners. Officials said they had to reduce the initial funding because of the state's budget problems but will push for more funding next year.
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