AEGiS-BALA: Being Alive Voices Opposition to Lawsuit That Discriminates Against Positive Inmates

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in June 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Being Alive Voices Opposition to Lawsuit That Discriminates Against Positive Inmates
Being Alive - June-July, 2002
Brad Sears

On March 11, 2002, a number of Los Angeles County AIDS services organizations and Representative Maxine Waters held a press conference to endorse a class action lawsuit ostensibly filed to require correctional facilities to use sterile instruments when cutting inmates' hair. The lawsuit, filed by the Civil Justice Foundation and attorney Margaret Wilson, alleged that inmates were being put at risk of being infected with HIV and hepatitis because of unsanitary practices in prison barbershops.

Members of the Being Alive Advocacy Committee attended the initial press conference and a subsequent community meeting about the lawsuit. After attending both of these meetings and having two attorneys review the complaint, the Advocacy Committee decided that Being Alive should oppose the lawsuit for two reasons. First, the suit actually seeks to make California correctional facilities discriminate against inmates with HIV by refusing to allow them to work as barbers. Such a policy, if adopted, would violate state and federal anti-discrimination laws. People with HIV are qualified to cut hair and be barbers both in and out of prison. If they follow proper infection control and haircutting procedures, they pose no risk to others.

Second, the lawsuit clouds the very real issues around the transmission of HIV in prisons and jails. People who are incarcerated are not becoming infected with HIV by getting haircuts. To our knowledge, there has been no documented case of such a transmission. Instead, people are becoming infected while incarcerated primarily by having unsafe sex. Because condoms are not allowed in most correctional facilities, people who are incarcerated don't even have the option of having protected sex. This is the issue that needs to be addressed, instead of needlessly scaring thousands of inmates that they might become infected by getting a haircut.

Exhibited below is the letter sent by the Being Alive Advocacy Committee to Margaret Wilson informing her of our position on her lawsuit. We urge the other AIDS services organizations that attended the March 11, 2002 press conference to send similar letters to Ms. Wilson, distancing themselves from this discriminatory and distracting lawsuit.

Re: Johnson, et al., v. The California Department of Corrections, et al.

Dear Ms. Wilson:

On behalf of Being Alive Los Angeles, Inc., we have carefully reviewed the complaint in the above-entitled case. Based on that review, Being Alive can support the principle that all sharps used by prison barbers for hair-cutting or shaving should be discarded or sterilized after each use. Being Alive, however, cannot support the litigation in its present state.

As written, the complaint seeks to restrict people living with HIV from serving as prison barbers. Being Alive is strongly opposed to any arbitrary restriction on the activities and employment of people living with HIV. There is no significant risk that an HIV+ barber would transmit the HIV-virus in the course of cutting or shaving a client's hair or facial hair. There is nothing in the extensive literature on the transmission of HIV documenting a case of such a transmission. That is why HIV is not listed among the infectious diseases that preclude a prisoner from serving as a barber. Being Alive fully supports the California Department of Corrections in making this exception. To discriminate against persons living with HIV based on an insignificant risk would violate federal and state laws, including Title II of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

On behalf of Being Alive, we hope for the success of your efforts to assure that barbers in California prisons properly sterilize their equipment. However, to the extent that your lawsuit seeks to prohibit inmates living with HIV from working as barbers, Being Alive will adamantly, and publicly, express its opposition. Accordingly, we urge you to amend your complaint to eliminate any indication that you are requesting that people living with HIV be restricted from working as barbers.

Very truly yours,
Being Alive Advocacy Committee

020701
BA020701

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