Nevada prisons ending segregation of HIV-positive inmates

By Cy Ryan

Wednesday, July 6, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Faced with the threat of a federal lawsuit, the Nevada prison system will no longer apply segregation policies that deny inmates with HIV access to work programs where other prisoners earn credits to reduce the length of their sentences.

The state Department of Corrections “will not support denying an inmate a job or housing an inmate differently from the general population based on the reasoning that they have HIV or other blood-borne disease,” prisons chief James Dzurenda said.

Dzurenda instructed prison officials not to disclose the condition of HIV-infected inmates to correctional officers or those who assign work details. He also said medical records that identify HIV inmates must be kept confidential.

Justice Department lawyers warned Nevada's attorney general last month that they might sue the state under the Americans with Disabilities Act if it didn't change the policies based largely on unfounded fears about the transmission of HIV.

They recommended the state pay compensatory damages to inmates who've been discriminated against — and in some cases threatened and harassed — as a result of the "medically unnecessary" segregation policy that stigmatizes those with HIV.

HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, causes AIDS but cannot be transmitted through ordinary activities such as shaking hands or sharing drinking glasses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Rebecca Bond, chief of the Justice Department's Disability Rights Section, notified the state in a June 20 letter it's violating the ADA by routinely denying HIV-infected inmates — and some others with mobility disabilities — assignment to low-custody facilities, including conservation camps and transitional housing where inmates earn the most work credits.

"No inmate should have to stay in segregated housing because of a HIV diagnosis or serve a longer sentence because of a disability," said Vanita Gupta, deputy assistant U.S. attorney general and head of the department's Civil Rights Division.

"Real and lasting reform in Nevada will require not only systemic changes in its policies, practices and procedures, but also a commitment to address unfounded stereotypes, fears and assumptions about individuals with disabilities," Gupta said.

Nevada law says these inmates must be segregated from other prisoners if there is a risk of transmitting the virus by battery, sexual activity or use of illegal drugs.

Mike Willden, chief of staff for Gov. Brian Sandoval, said there will have to be a change in Nevada law to comply with the federal statute.

The Justice Department launched an ADA compliance review in Nevada after receiving complaints from two inmates at the High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs. After interviewing more than 30 inmates and more than 20 corrections workers, the department concluded Nevada's "house alike/house alone" policy "stigmatizes inmates with HIV and indiscriminately disclosed their confidential HIV status to NDOC employees and inmates."

As a result, inmates with HIV have been exposed to "potential harm from inmates who may hold unfounded fears of, or prejudices against, those with HIV," the department said, adding that other "inmates have harassed or threatened those whom they believe have HIV."

The department noted the CDC has concluded HIV "cannot be transmitted through ordinary daily activities such as sharing toilets, sharing dishes or drinking glasses, shaking hands, hugging, touching, sneezing, coughing or exposure to the saliva, tears or sweat of a person with HIV."

Nevada's policy actually allows for inmates with HIV to work in the prison kitchen.

"But some NDOC employees either are unaware of, or have knowingly disregarded, this policy," the report said. It said some inmates' jobs have been terminated upon discovery that they have HIV.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.