I have a couple of responses, one just quickly on the program piece.
I mentioned briefly in my opening comments the moves we're making around what we're calling the integrated correctional program model. What that will do for us, to address the issue you raised about access to programs, is position us to start delivering the program primers to offenders during the time of admission. Rather than waiting anywhere from eight to nine to ten months before offenders start participating in programs, they'll be starting to participate in the program primers right at the time of admission. For us, this is a significant change in our programming strategy that will go a long way to address the issue you were briefly mentioning.
On the issue of infectious contagious diseases, currently we have about 250 offenders who have tested positive for HIV, and about 4,100 offenders who have tested positive for hepatitis C. These numbers have been going up gradually. They are not huge increases. We can provide the committee with a table of the actual numbers.
We know these numbers only as a result of inmates' consenting to be tested. There is no mandatory testing of offenders coming into the system. If there were a huge increase of individuals who come into the system with infectious diseases rather than getting them through something that's happening in the institution, we really don't have a good gauge for it, unless the offenders agree to be tested. We only know the statistics based on those who have volunteered to be tested.
As to our approach to clamping down, we honestly believe that unless we create a safe environment for offenders to come forward and participate in programs, we're not going to have them come out of their cells. A lot of pressure occurs in some of our institutions, primarily at maximum security institutions and some of our higher-level medium security institutions, where the pressure is placed on offenders to be more involved in the drug subculture and therefore choose not to participate in programs. On any given day, about 20% of offenders choose not to participate in any programs.