Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993 TAG: 9308240049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: TALLAHASSEE, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
Some civil libertarians call it a throwback to the days of leper colonies, an attempt to warehouse those with the deadly condition.
But prison administrators say the idea is to provide the best care possible in the most cost-effective way. They say the prison will be only for those who are seriously ill, not for all prisoners who have AIDS or the HIV virus that causes it.
"This has nothing to do with segregation," said Corrections Secretary Harry Singletary. "It's a quality-of-life issue for the patients, and an efficiency issue for us. I think it makes very good sense."
He said providing care for terminal AIDS patients at one site - instead of at 30 prisons statewide - will save money, and the hospice environment will give them a more comfortable place to die.
AIDS has been the leading cause of death in Florida prisons since 1987.
Last year, the prison agency spent more than $3 million on private hospital care for inmates with AIDS. Prison officials hope the new facility will save $500,000 to $1 million each year.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union - which for years has fought around the country against the segregation of inmates with AIDS - argue that savings are not reason enough. Segregating the inmates could confer second-class status on a group of people simply because they are ill, the ACLU says.
It asks why the prisons aren't moving to segregate cancer or heart disease patients as well.
"This is an excuse to separate prisoners with AIDS and remove them from the population - out of sight, out of mind," said Jackie Walker, of the ACLU's National Prison Project. "It's just bad policy. They'll become a throwaway population."
But Dr. Charles Matthews, the prison system's top doctor, said the central setting is best because AIDS is unlike any other communicable disease and requires special expertise and special drugs.
"I'm responsible for the treatment of these people, and I need to have them where I can treat them best," he said. "We just can't do it as effectively at prison infirmaries."
The state is paying $953,000 to convert the old Cape Orlando Community Correctional Center to the facility Matthews described as a "very austere motel-type environment."
"Of course, they won't have the kind of amenities a motel might have," he said. "There won't be a swimming pool, but the basics will be there. They will be fairly comfortable rooms with a bath and a bed."
An important question for those concerned with inmates' rights is how to determine which prisoners are housed at the AIDS center.
"I wouldn't want some captain somewhere using it as punishment, or vetoing inmates as escape risks," said Peter Sleasman, a lawyer for Florida Institutional Legal Services.
Matthews said those types of security issues have not been worked out. "But we're talking about seriously ill people, people who need this kind of specialized care," he said, "not the kind of people you'd associate with an escape risk."
In June, prison officials counted 411 AIDS inmates in a prison population of 50,000. Another 1,507 have been identified as HIV-positive, although inmates are not required to be tested. In 1992, there were 66 AIDS-related deaths in the prison system.
Walker said despite what may be good intentions on the part of the prison system, separation of AIDS inmates at any level sets a bad precedent. "This, in connection with their consideration of mandatory testing, certainly leaves some questions in our minds about their attitudes and motives," she said.
"This is an historic decision, and it's a huge step backward."
by CNB