Last year Reentry Central posted an article on the dehumanizing way the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) was treating HIV+ inmates (see ACLU Takes on Alabama’s Policy of Segregating HIV Positive Prisoners, September 19, 2012). The article reported that the ACLU was taking on the ADOC because HIV+ inmates were being segregated from the general population and were initially denied rehabilitative, vocational and mental health programs, as well as being barred from attending religious services with the general population. The ACLU also claimed that HIV+ inmates in Alabama were forced to wear a white armband which signified their status.
The Montgomery Advertiser reports that the ACLU’s 26-year fight with the ADOC will soon come to an end. For female HIV+ the battle ended in August when they were allowed to live among the general population following a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson which proclaimed segregating HIV+ inmates violated the Americans with Disabilities ACT. The Montgomery Advertiser states that beginning next year HIV+ male inmates will be integrated into the general population.
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