Criminal Penalties for Attempted Exposure to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) by Prison Inmates- Pennsylvania Statutes

Criminal Penalties for Attempted Exposure to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) by Prison Inmates, P.L. 102, Act No. 19 of 1998, §§ 1, 3, codified at 18 Pennsylvania Statutes Annotated §§ 2703, 2704 (West)

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§ 2703, assault by prisoner.

(a) Offense defined.--A person who is confined in or committed to any local or county detention facility, jail or prison or any State penal or correctional institution or other State penal or correctional facility located in this Commonwealth is guilty of a felony of the second degree if he, while so confined or committed or while undergoing transportation to or from such an institution or facility in or to which he was confined or committed intentionally or knowingly, commits an assault upon another with a deadly weapon or instrument, or by any means or force likely to produce serious bodily injury. A person is guilty of this offense if he intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know, should have known or believed such fluid or material to have been obtained from an individual, including the person charged under this section, infected by a communicable disease, including, but not limited to, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or hepatitis B.

(b) Consecutive sentences.--The court shall order that any sentence imposed for a violation of subsection (a), or any sentence imposed for a violation of section 2702(a) (relating to aggravated assault) where the victim is a detention facility or correctional facility employee, be served consecutively with the person's current sentence.

§ 2704, assault by life prisoner.

Every person who has been sentenced to death or life imprisonment in any penal institution located in this Commonwealth, and whose sentence has not been commuted, who commits an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or instrument upon another, or by any means of force likely to produce serious bodily injury, is guilty of a crime, the penalty for which shall be the same as the penalty for murder of the second degree. A person is guilty of this offense if he intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know, should have known or believed such fluid or material to have been obtained from an individual, including the person charged under this section, infected by a communicable disease, including, but not limited to, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or hepatitis B.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

P.L. 102, No. 19, §§ 1, 3 (enacted Feb. 18, 1998, effective immediately), amended Pennsylvania's prisoner assault statutes, adding the last sentences to sections 2703(a) and 2704.

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