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Denial of Cooking Class Attendance for Refusing HIV Test Upheld

The plaintiff complained that he was excluded from a "culinary arts program" because he wouldn't take an HIV test.

The plaintiff did not allege that he was a "qualified individual with a disability" and, in fact, pleaded himself out of court by stating that he is not HIV positive and that all prisoners are required to submit to HIV tests to participate in the program. Thus there is no disability discrimination. He was kept out of the program for refusing to submit to the test. The ADA prohibition on disability-related inquiries applies only to employees; there is no analogous provision in Title II, on which the plaintiff relied.

The plaintiff had no liberty or property interest in attending a cooking class.

The confiscation of property (jeans, styrofoam, and carbon paper) did not deny due process because a post-deprivation remedy was available. See: Murdock v. Washington, 193 F.3d 510 (7th Cir. 1999) (per curiam).

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Related legal case

Murdock v. Washington