NCJ Number
118881
Journal
Temple Law Review Volume: 62 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1989) Pages: 327-354
Date Published
1989
Length
28 pages
Annotation
The fear and ignorance about AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) that motivated early restrictive segregation and testing measures for inmates have lost force in the face of greater medical knowledge and can no longer be permitted to guide policy decisions.
Abstract
AIDS testing and segregation should be implemented only after careful scrutiny and examination of the alternatives and their respective advantages and disadvantages. Isolation and HTLV-III screening of inmates must be considered last resorts, and education and training programs ought to be the main weapons against AIDS transmission in prisons, since they are the least restrictive of inmates' rights. Condom distribution can be a useful addition to these programs; prisons must adopt a realistic rather than a moralistic policy. Also, the public must recognize that AIDS is a health problem and not a moral issue. The courts, through critical, investigative, and thorough examination of prison administration policy and action, can ensure that inmate rights do not become secondary to public fear and ignorance. 208 footnotes.