Sentenced to Stigma: Segregation of HIV-Positive Prisoners - AL.com

Prisoners earning money from work release jobs pay child support, victim restitution, andoften contribute to the cost of their room and board while on the program. In South Carolina,for example, prisoners contribute 20 percent of their wages to victim restitution and 35percent to child support. These requirements have generated millions of dollars for theSouth Carolina Victims Compensation Fund. 145Finding and maintaining a job is a critical element of prisoner re-entry. Work releaseprograms have been shown to significantly reduce recidivism. 146 Prisoners on work releaseestablish relationships with outside employers. If they remain employed after release, theybecome tax-paying citizens. As a matter of fiscal policy, promoting, rather than restricting,work release opportunities is the more cost-effective approach.Similarly, targeted pre-release programs can improve a prisoner’s chances of a successfultransition to the community. South Carolina’s STOP program provides an example. TheSouth Carolina Department of Corrections describes the Short Term Offender Program (STOP)as follows:The STOP Unit is a fast track program addressing the needs of male offendersthat have shorter sentences, one year or less. It provides practical and usefullife skills training, education, vocational, rehabilitation, and employmentassistance for offenders who may not have previously had access tointensive institutional programs, pre-release preparation or communityresources. 147Yet HIV-positive prisoners with sentences as short as 90 days are ineligible for STOP. Rather,they are assigned to the segregated unit at the maximum security prison that houses deathrow. This policy undermines the mission of the South Carolina Department of Correctionswhich is to “provide rehabilitation and self-improvement opportunities for prisoners.” 148Depriving prisoners of opportunities to become productive citizens is costly and unwise as145 South Carolina Department of Corrections, “Inmates Now Contributing More to Help Victims,” online,http://www.doc.sc.gov/victim_services/news1199.jsp (accessed December 12, 2009).146 Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, “Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Re-entry” (January 2006);Solomon, A. etal, “From Prison to Work: The Employment Dimensions of Prison Re-entry, A Report of the Re-entry Roundtable,” UrbanInstitute, October 2004; For a recent review of studies associating work release with reduced recidivism, see, WashingtonState Institute for Public Policy, “Does Participation in Washington’s Work Release Facilities Reduce Recidivism?” November2007.147 South Carolina Department of Corrections, “Broad River Correctional Facility,” online,http://www.doc.sc.gov/institutions/brci.jsp (accessed December 12, 2009).148 Mission Statement, South Carolina Department of Corrections website, www.doc.sc.gov. (accessed November 24, 2009).Sentenced to Stigma 46