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| Justice Department Settles with South Carolina Department of Corrections to End Discrimination Against Inmates with HIV |
| By blog.aids.gov |
| Published: 11/25/2013 |
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The Justice Department announced on September 30, 2013 that it had reached a settlement with the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) and its director, to resolve alleged violations of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504). The agreement, filed today along with a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, resolves the department’s investigation of SCDC policies and practices of segregating inmates with HIV/AIDS (HIV) and denying them the opportunity to participate equally in services, programs and activities. The department’s investigation found that, under policies implemented in the late 1990s, SCDC unnecessarily segregates all inmates with HIV in two of SCDC’s highest security prisons, regardless of their individual security classification. There are currently approximately 350 male and female inmates with HIV who are segregated in SCDC’s highest security prisons solely on the basis of their HIV-positive status. SCDC further segregates inmates with HIV to “HIV-only” dorms in these two high security prisons and the inmates are required to wear clothing and badges that identify their dorms and effectively disclose their HIV status to other inmates, correctional staff and visitors. Because certain programs are not provided at the two prisons, inmates with HIV are unable to participate in a variety of SCDC’s programs, such as drug treatment, work release, pre-release preparation, intermediate psychiatric care and SCDC jobs that are available to other inmates without HIV. “With this consent decree, SCDC joins 49 other state correctional systems that recognize that individuals with HIV are entitled to equal treatment under the law. Science and longstanding experience have demonstrated that HIV, alone, is not a basis for segregation from the general population without an individualized assessment of the inmate’s circumstances,” said Jocelyn Samuels Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, “We applaud SCDC’s efforts to close this final chapter of illegal segregation of inmates based on HIV and, to instead commit to the integration of current and future inmates with HIV, based on their individual circumstances, individualized assessment and classification level.” “I am proud that this office had the opportunity to work with the Department of Justice and the state of South Carolina in addressing this issue,” said William Nettles, U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina. “This consent decree will put us all on the right side of history.” Read More. |
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