A Delaware County prison must adjust its operations after settling a discrimination case with an HIV-positive inmate who wanted to work in the kitchen.
The lawsuit against the George W. Hill Correctional Facility stemmed from an event in 2020, while it was privately owned by the GEO Group.
“Our client was incarcerated,” said Adrian Lowe, senior staff attorney with the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. “During his incarceration, he tried to acquire a work in the kitchen. He was initially informed he could get the job.
Lowe claims that offer was quickly retracted. “He asked why, and it was because he’s living with HIV .”
According to Lowe, this violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the problems at the institution didn’t end there.
“[The prison] allowed his private medical information to become known,” that’s what he stated. According to the lawsuit, another jailed prisoner was given a note to provide him stating that he was not cleared to work due to his HIV diagnosis.
“There are plenty of hardworking people living with HIV who are in kitchens making beautiful meals or fast food, so this idea that we’re going to screen out somebody with HIV to protect our food supply is naive,” said Ronda Goldfein, executive director of the AIDS Law Project, who represented the plaintiff alongside Lowe.
The financial terms of the deal, reached last week, have not been released, but attorneys claim it requires the prison to tighten its policies regarding health care privacy. It must also clarify its nondiscrimination principles in employment initiatives.
Calls to the prison for comment were not promptly responded.