Officials Oppose Planned AIDS Ward in Chino Prison

Under increasing pressure from residents, city officials said Thursday they are seeking a way to stop the California Department of Corrections from establishing the state’s second prison AIDS ward at the California Institute for Men.

The corrections department announced on Monday that it would open the state’s second AIDS ward at the Chino prison in an effort to ease the burgeoning population of AIDS inmates at its prison ward in Vacaville. Chino was selected because it has an accredited hospital on the grounds.

Mayor Fred Aguiar said the prison already houses more than twice the 2,500 inmates it was designed for and “to ask this community to accept an additional liability is unfair and cannot be accepted.”

Aguiar said residents have been telephoning City Hall to complain about the state’s plan. He and other officials said they fear that a concentration of inmates suffering from AIDS at the Chino facility might endanger city personnel, such as police and firefighters, who might have occasion to come in contact with them.

“Recognizing that there is a lot unknown about AIDS and how it can be transmitted to others,” Aguiar said, “we feel the CIM employees, residents and safety and rescue personnel may be exposed to greater risks as a result of this move.”

William McCombs, president of the Chino Police Officer’s Assn., said, “In the event we have to shoot an escapee with AIDS, we would be in a position of geting blood all over us and in our own wounds.”

(AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a blood-borne disease that destroys the body’s immune system, leaving it powerless against certain cancers and otherwise rare infections. It is commonly transmitted through anal and vaginal sexual intercourse, through the sharing of unsterilized hypodermic needles and by mother to fetus during pregnancy. Physicians say it cannot be transmitted through casual contact.)

The state Department of Finance is now studying a request to fund a 180-bed AIDS ward at Chino. It would be located in a unit that now houses 1,440 parole violators temporarily being held for transfer to prisons elsewhere in the state, corrections department spokesman Bob Gore said. A final decision could come within weeks, he said.

Gore also said the department plans soon to begin notifying area hospitals that it is seeking to negotiate contracts for the treatment of its critically ill AIDS patients.

“We regard it as a matter of public education and we are willing to explain to the people of Chino what we are doing,” Gore said. “Their exposure is nil . . . and I think it is the responsibility of local officials to try and keep everyone calm.”

Nonetheless, the Chino City Council recently instructed the city attorney to gather information that could be used in a lawsuit aimed at stopping the ward.

Chino City Councilman Richard Sawhill, for one, sided with Democratic Sen. Ruben Ayala, whose Chino district includes the prison, in calling for an environmental impact study before opening of the AIDS ward to ensure that the public is adequately protected.

“Why don’t they make additional room at Vacaville and keep the AIDS patients in one facility?” Sawhill asked. “A question everyone is asking is, ‘Why us?’ ”

Not all members of the City Council are as concerned about the state’s action.

“I think we are seeing an overreaction based on a lack of understanding,” Councilwoman Diane Erwin said. “In my opinion, there is nothing that can be done to stop it. . . . It is a prison facility and a prison matter.”

Councilman Al Yankey, who would prefer to see increased security at the AIDS ward, agreed.

“Little ol’ bitty Chino is going to take on the state of California?” Yankey asked. “I don’t think we can tell them what to do.”