老澳门开奖结果

Today a federal judge in Montgomery, Alabama entered a historic decision in the quarter-century-old fight for equality for prisoners living with HIV. It鈥檚 the culmination of a month-long trial in a class-action lawsuit by the 老澳门开奖结果 that put Alabama鈥檚 discriminatory and dehumanizing treatment of prisoners with HIV under a national spotlight.

Driven by stubborn prejudice and willful ignorance, Alabama has been categorically excluding prisoners with HIV from a host of rehabilitative, educational, trade skills and vocational programs鈥攅ven barring those with serious mental health needs and substance abuse problems from critically important treatment programs. Alabama houses them in HIV-only dormitories, and forces all male prisoners with HIV to wear a white wrist-band night and day鈥攁 latter-day yellow star.

Today鈥檚 decision will end all that. In a blistering opinion, Judge Myron H. Thompson ruled that Alabama鈥檚 HIV segregation policies violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Thompson said in his decision: 鈥淚t is evident that, while the ADOC鈥檚 categorical segregation policy has been an unnecessary tool for preventing the transmission of HIV, it has been an effective one for humiliating and isolating prisoners living with the disease.鈥�

The trial exposed that Alabama鈥檚 HIV segregation policy has been driven by a toxic mix of ignorance and prejudice at the highest levels of the Department of Corrections.

One prison warden testified that he doesn鈥檛 know whether HIV can be transmitted through food. Another assumed that all prisoners with HIV are gay. The state鈥檚 opinion pollster testified that homosexuality is a 鈥渓ifestyle鈥� and 鈥渃hoice鈥� that 鈥渃reates the opportunity for diseases, including HIV, to be spread," and that correctional staff would refuse to prevent attacks on HIV-positive prisoners. The judge pointedly remarked that using that logic, Alabama would never have achieved racial integration. (In fact, the impact of the HIV segregation policy is far greater on black than on white prisoners: more than 80 percent of Alabama prisoners with HIV are African-American.)

Alabama officials claimed that HIV segregation is a 鈥渂enevolent鈥� policy: Forcibly outing prisoners鈥� HIV status helps get them over their 鈥渄read of disclosure.鈥� The prisoners exposed that hypocrisy, describing in graphic detail what it鈥檚 really like to be treated like lepers and 鈥渢agged like cattle.鈥� After visiting the women鈥檚 prison, Judge Thompson stated the HIV dorm is tantamount to solitary confinement, and its atmosphere of depression 鈥渁lmost palpable.鈥�

When the judge visited the HIV dorm at the men鈥檚 prison, he was greeted by a message on a blackboard: 鈥淧lease desegregate us!鈥� But even Alabama prisoners who don鈥檛 have HIV understood the lawsuit as a civil-rights struggle that helps them all. Plaintiff Dana Harley testified that when a local TV station aired an interview with her protesting HIV segregation, general population inmates 鈥渟tarted applauding and cheering, and you know, saying that they鈥檇 seen the news interview, and high-fiving. You would have thought鈥攚ell, all of us was being released the way their response to it was.鈥�

Alabama claimed at trial that prisoners who don鈥檛 have HIV would react violently if the HIV segregation policy were ended. But the Department of Corrections鈥� own associate commissioner for security dealt a death blow to that defense -- and stunned the courtroom -- by suddenly admitting on cross-examination that he has now come to believe that HIV segregation is unjustified.

The decision today is a milestone in the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 campaign to end HIV segregation in the Deep South, through litigation, negotiation, and public education. By the late 1990鈥檚, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina were the last states in the nation to segregate. In 2010, Mississippi completely abandoned HIV segregation under pressure of a scathing report by the 老澳门开奖结果 and Human Rights Watch. With today鈥檚 decision, South Carolina becomes the sole standard-bearer for this shameful remnant of the era of HIV hysteria.

We don鈥檛 know yet whether Alabama will appeal Judge Thompson鈥檚 decision. But it鈥檚 clear the days of HIV segregation are numbered. Alabama prisoners, supported by allies around the state, the nation and the world, won鈥檛 give up this struggle until they鈥檝e finally put an end to the state鈥檚 discriminatory practices. Today鈥檚 decision is an enormous step toward that goal.

See Henderson et al. v. Thomas et al. for more information on the case.

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