Detention center said safe

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, which cited the county for alleged deficiencies at the jail in April, will visit the jail in early December, Mades said.

Justice Department officials had charged the jail with having inadequacies in the area of suicide prevention, AIDS and other health care, hygiene, access to courts, and sanitation in the female housing unit.

Since the Justice Department contacted the county, regulators from the state of Maryland gave the jail a clean bill of health.

The National Institute on Correctional Health Care also examined the jail, and last week certified the jail as meeting 100 percent of national standards. Only seven correctional facilities in Maryland have received the certification, Mades said.

Mades said Prime Care, a managed care company contracted to care for inmates, has done a good job cutting costs, which are coming in about 25 percent under budget so far this year.

The grand jury also recommended mandatory AIDS testing for all inmates in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease.

Mades told the commissioners that mandatory AIDS tests are a violation of the inmates' civil rights. Even if testing were allowed, it would be a violation of inmates' civil rights if they were segregated from the rest of the population because they have the disease.

Laws would have to be changed at a state and federal level to permit AIDS testing, Mades said.

Although mandatory testing is illegal, inmates must attend AIDS awareness classes given by the county Health Department, Mades said.