ACLU requesting an end in separating inmates with HIV - WSFA.com Montgomery Alabama news.

ACLU requesting an end in separating inmates with HIV

BIRMINGHAM, AL (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch are asking the Alabama Department of Corrections to stop housing HIV-positive inmates in quarters separate from those of other inmates.

In "Sentenced to Stigma," an ACLU-Human Rights Watch report issued Tuesday, the groups say that Alabama and South Carolina drag behind other states in their refusal to house HIV-positive prison inmates with uninfected ones.

Megan McLemore, a health researcher at Human Rights Watch, says there's no justification and calls the practice discriminatory.

But Alabama Corrections Commissioner Richard Allen says separate housing is an effective step in meeting the state's obligation to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

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