Agreement Ends Discrimination of HIV-Positive Prisoners in South Carolina

by David M. Reutter

An agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) makes it the last state prison system to end discrimination against HIV-positive prisoners.

SCDC implemented policies in the late 1990s that segregated about 350 male and female prisoners in its highest security prisons without regard for their individual security classification. Male prisoners were housed at the Broad River Correctional Institution and the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution housed women.

HIV-positive prisoners were required to wear clothing and badges that identified their dorms, which were “HIV-only” dorms. In effect, SCDC’s policies disclosed to staff, other prisoners, and visitors the prisoners’ HIV status. Because certain programs are not available at those two prisons, SCDC’s policies prevented affected prisoners from participating in drug treatment, work release, pre-release preparation, and intermediate psychiatric care. They were also denied cafeteria and canteen jobs.

The October 1, 2013 agreement between DOJ and SCDC ends the “illegal segregation” of HIV-positive prisoners throughout the nation. It came close on the heels of the Alabama prisoner system’s abrogation of similar policies following a federal court’s ruling. See: PLN August, 2013, pg 24.

Under the consent decree, SCDC had to conduct training for staff and prisoners on HIV transmission, and SCDC has to create a plan to integrate HIV-positive prisoners into the general prison population. SCDC, also by that time, has to ensure each HIV-positive prisoner entering the prison system is processed according to SCDC’s classification system without regard to HIV status.

Prisoners who were segregated under the illegal policies could elect to be moved into general population, request a hardship transfer, or remain temporarily segregated with other HIV prisoners. All prisoners will be integrated into the general population within a year.

SCDC was required under the agreement to implement policies that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, particularly HIV. The changes in policy make all SCDC programs and services open to HIV prisoners and allow them to maintain privacy over their medical care.

“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.” See: United States v. South Carolina Department of Corrections, U.S.D.C. (Dist. S.C.), Case no. 3:13-cv-02664.

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