AEGiS-AP: Mother Teresa Wants State To Release AIDS Prisoners

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Mother Teresa Wants State To Release AIDS Prisoners

Associated Press - January 3, 1986

Mother Teresa, in a meeting at City Hall yesterday, tried to enlist the support of Mayor Koch for the release of all state prisoners who are suffering from AIDS. The prisoners, she said, should be able to die near their families.

Mr. Koch said he would make a request for the prisoner release on her behalf to Gov. Cuomo. He said the only prisoners who would be released those who are so sick they "are not a danger to anyone."

The Mayor also said he would help Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, set up a farm, or camp, for AIDS victims in a rural area. He said the prisoners would not be part of the farm program.

'I'm going to make a request publicly of people who have farms, estates, who might lease or lend them to Mother Teresa," the Mayor said, "and also ask the state if it has a farm or camp that can be given to her."

If necessary, Mother Teresa said, the AIDS patients would construct the buildings on the farm and work the land.

The idea for the farm stemmed from the care Mother Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity, gives to 178,000 lepers around the world, including those in eight states in the United States.

Mr. Koch said those states "have given her land, acreage where lepers actually build their own homes and have an environment where they could work." He added, "She would like to use that same idea about AIDS victims."

Three prisoners in terminal stages of AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, were released recently to Mother Teresa, who operates a guest house for patients with the disease in Greenwich Village.

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