Amy
06-17-2004, 05:08 PM
HOLBROOK MOHR
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - The American Civil Liberties Union is applauding a federal court order directing the Mississippi Department of Corrections to allow HIV-positive prisoners to participate in the system's community work programs.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry A. Davis issued his decision last week.
Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the ACLU's National Prison Project and lead counsel for the prisoners, Thursday described Davis' ruling as a "wonderful victory."
The state's HIV-positive prisoners, about 220 in all, have been housed separately from the rest of the prison population, Winters said.
About 190 of the inmates are male and are housed in Unit 28 at the state penitentiary in Parchman, while about 30 HIV-positive women are held at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.
Under Davis' ruling, the prisoners can qualify to transfer to lower security community work centers throughout the state. Winters said she hopes the prisoners will begin requesting the transfers immediately.
"They are to be admitted to those facilities on the same basis as prisoners who don't have HIV," she said. "Whatever the eligibility qualifications are, if they meet them, they'll be admitted on the very same basis."
Winters said the decision came at the end of a 14-year battle to obtain equal treatment for HIV-positive prisoners in Mississippi.
"Now, with only Alabama continuing to exclude all prisoners with HIV/AIDS from community corrections programs, we hope to soon see the end of the era of officially sanctioned HIV discrimination in American prisons," she said.
Nsombi Lambright, Executive Director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said the "change protects prisoners and the public because providing employment opportunities to more prisoners eases their re-entry into the community and lessens the likelihood of recidivism."
Winters also said the new policy would benefit taxpayers because it is less expensive to house the prisoners in lower security facilities than at the larger prisons.
Source: Biloxi Sun Herald online edition
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. - The American Civil Liberties Union is applauding a federal court order directing the Mississippi Department of Corrections to allow HIV-positive prisoners to participate in the system's community work programs.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry A. Davis issued his decision last week.
Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the ACLU's National Prison Project and lead counsel for the prisoners, Thursday described Davis' ruling as a "wonderful victory."
The state's HIV-positive prisoners, about 220 in all, have been housed separately from the rest of the prison population, Winters said.
About 190 of the inmates are male and are housed in Unit 28 at the state penitentiary in Parchman, while about 30 HIV-positive women are held at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.
Under Davis' ruling, the prisoners can qualify to transfer to lower security community work centers throughout the state. Winters said she hopes the prisoners will begin requesting the transfers immediately.
"They are to be admitted to those facilities on the same basis as prisoners who don't have HIV," she said. "Whatever the eligibility qualifications are, if they meet them, they'll be admitted on the very same basis."
Winters said the decision came at the end of a 14-year battle to obtain equal treatment for HIV-positive prisoners in Mississippi.
"Now, with only Alabama continuing to exclude all prisoners with HIV/AIDS from community corrections programs, we hope to soon see the end of the era of officially sanctioned HIV discrimination in American prisons," she said.
Nsombi Lambright, Executive Director of the ACLU of Mississippi, said the "change protects prisoners and the public because providing employment opportunities to more prisoners eases their re-entry into the community and lessens the likelihood of recidivism."
Winters also said the new policy would benefit taxpayers because it is less expensive to house the prisoners in lower security facilities than at the larger prisons.
Source: Biloxi Sun Herald online edition