DOVER (AP)- Federal statistics and private studies agree: Delaware has experienced high rates of AIDS-related deaths and HIV infection among its prison population.

But trying to piece together an accurate picture of inmate mortality is difficult without a missing piece of the puzzle: autopsy reports from the state Office of the Medical Examiner.

State officials have denied Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press for H-IV- and AIDS-related information in the autopsies, saying they need to black out such information because of privacy concerns.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than 60 percent of inmate deaths in Delaware in 1999 involved AIDS-related deaths, by far the highest percentage in the country.