Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

Hello all,
I've got one problem regarding inputHidden field.
In jsp page there is a hidden field:

 <h:inputHidden value="#{itemBean.content}" id="HtmlContentTextArea" />
 

Before page page is submitted i run javaScript function that populates this hidden field with value

 <p>& lt;strong& gt;STRONG& lt;/strong& gt;</p> 

Then from log I see that itembean.content value is

 & lt;p& gt;& lt;strong& gt;STRONG& lt;/strong& gt;& lt;/p& gt; 

So the question is how do I can set value whatever it is without escaping < and > characters ?