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CONNECTICUT: "Supreme Court: HIV Can Be Prison Work Hazard" Associated Press (05.04.04)::Matt Apuzzo CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update Tuesday, May 04, 2004      On Monday, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the high rate of HIV infection among prisoners creates a unique and hazardous job environment for certain prison guards, clearing the way for them to receive workers' compensation if they become infected. The ruling allows members of prison emergency response teams to apply for compensation, provided they prove they contracted HIV on the job.      The court held that the state must consider a workers' compensation claim brought by the family of an unidentified correction officer who was diagnosed with HIV in 1992 and died a year later. "Breaking up altercations and riots in an inmate population with an HIV infection level of one in 20 - more than 70 times greater than the infection rate of the nonincarcerated population - is peculiar to the decedent's occupation," wrote Justice Flemming L. Norcott Jr. State officials had argued that the HIV-infection rate among correction officers was so low that it did not warrant special designation as a job hazard.      The court, however, stopped short of extending coverage to all corrections officers, to the disappointment of Chief Justice William J. Sullivan. Sullivan sided with the majority but issued his own opinion calling for all prison guards to qualify for workers' compensation. "It is wrong to leave correction officers in a state of uncertainty and to create the need for additional future litigation," he wrote.      While the ruling made a distinction between correction officers and those officers on emergency response teams, the court did indicate a willingness to extend the job hazard protection to all officers. "The correction officer's duties of employment," wrote Norcott, "distinctly require intimate physical contact with the inmates, often in situations where blood and other bodily fluids that transmit HIV are present." Department of Corrections spokesperson Brian Garnett said officials are reviewing the decision.      Attorney Joel Faxon said the deceased officer's family - which includes two disabled children - will go back to the state Workers' Compensation Commission and reapply for coverage.         Email: