AIDS IN CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES - CURRENT STATUS OF LEGAL ISSUES CRITICAL TO POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Administrators of correctional facilities have created specific policies directed toward detecting and controlling health risks created by inmates who are infected with the HIV virus or who have AIDS. This article examines the legal issues that influence the development and implementation of those policies. It discusses the constitutionality of testing and segregation and the reasons currently advanced for each of these measures. The article explores whether prisoners infected with HIV or who have developed AIDS are handicapped for purposes of federal law that will hold the correctional facility liable for discrimination if these prisoners are housed separately or excluded from programs.