Alabama Judge to Rule on H.I.V. Inmate Segregation

Civil liberties group brought suit against unusual corrections department policy

A federal judge in Alabama this week is expected to make a ruling on the legality of isolating H.I.V.-positive inmates from other prisoners. The unusual policy keeps infected prisoners from eating, working around food and visiting with H.I.V.-negative inmates. Alabama and South Carolina are the only states that have policies mandating isolation. The Alabama Corrections Department is concerned that H.I.V. will spread through consensual sex, through rape or through blood when inmates give each other tattoos. A class action suit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges Alabama corrections officials deny equal treatment to infected inmates and clash with modern medical advancements that make H.I.V. transmission highly unlikely for inmates who regularly take antiretroviral drugs. The Alabama policy faced a legal challenge in 1995, when a federal court upheld the policy. In 2010, the Justice Department notified South Carolina that it might sue to stop its inmate segregation policy. Most other states voluntarily stopped isolating H.I.V.-positive inmates years ago. (New York Times)

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