By DESIREE HUNTER, Associated Press
Published March 24, 2008
MONTGOMERY — Tutwiler prison inmate Kathryn Canty has all the qualities of a prime work release candidate: a good behavior record, less than three years left to serve and an accounting degree along with several vocational certificates.
But she also has HIV, and inmate advocates say
Alabama is the only state with a prison system that bars those with HIV from participating in work release.
(snip)
"Many states have a work release system. Alabama is the only state that does not allow prisoners who are HIV positive to participate in work release,” said David Fathi, director of the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch, a nonprofit group that monitors human rights cases worldwide.
(snip)
“I think we’re dealing with a long custom here in Alabama. There’s fear here,” said Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “Certainly we have no reason to think anything the commissioner is doing is based on malice — far from it, but there needs to be a rational look at the facts.”
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080324/NEWS/457281212/1017/NEWSWTF?
:grr: