Ending Segregation of HIV-Positive Prisoners in Alabama Could Save Money, Study Says

Alabama's prison system could save between $306,000 and $392,000 a year by ceasing to segregate HIV-positive prisoners from the general prison population, according to a report released Tuesday by the Alabama Prison Project and the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, the AP/Tuscaloosa News reports (Bryan, AP/Tuscaloosa News, 4/30). The study, titled "Excluding Alabama State Prisoners with HIV/AIDS from Community-Based Programs," found that if Alabama ended prison segregation, 44 inmates would be eligible to join state-run community corrections programs and 12 inmates would be eligible for community-based corrections programs. Because community corrections programs cost the state $11 dollars a day per person -- $15 a day less than it costs to keep an inmate in prison -- a change in policy could save the state up to $392,000 each year. Under the Alabama system, HIV-positive inmates are provided with basic services but are prohibited from participating in such community corrections programs such as work release or Supervised Intensive Restitution programs (Bailey, Birmingham News, 4/30). Alabama, whose prison system is "cash-strapped" and "overcrowded," is the only state that still segregates HIV-positive prisoners, according to the AP/News (AP/Tuscaloosa News, 4/30). The policy was under attack for nearly 16 years until the Supreme Court last year refused to hear an appeal in which some of HIV-positive inmates accused Alabama of "unconstitutional discrimination" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/25/2002). Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell has not yet decided whether to maintain the policy (AP/Tuscaloosa News, 4/30). Campbell pointed out that the possible savings could be offset by the cost of treating prisoners who may contract HIV as a result of ending the policy (Birmingham News, 4/30). "For all the emotional appeal of this idea that you can keep people protected, the prisons have never done any study that says Alabama's rate of transmission is any lower than any other state" as a result of the segregation policy, Rachel Maddow, lead author of the study said (AP/Tuscaloosa News, 4/30).