It is with deep dismay that we read the recent report of Dr. Stephen Tabet on health conditions at Limestone Correctional Facility. Dr. Tabet’s report documents appalling conditions for HIV-positive prisoners, conditions that have led to their death from malnutrition and preventable infectious diseases. Even prior to Dr. Tabet’s report, Alabama had ample notice of the dire conditions in Limestone, many of which were identified in the state’s own report released in February.
Prisoners should be expected to serve the sentences imposed on them by the courts, but the conditions described in Dr. Tabet’s report indicate that some Limestone inmates have received a death sentence not imposed by law but by inadequate and incompetent medical care. We call on you to take immediate steps to honor the state’s obligation under constitutional and international human rights law to ensure safe and humane prison conditions and adequate medical services for those persons it chooses to incarcerate.
Human Rights Watch researchers have visited incarcerated persons living with HIV/AIDS in a number of countries, including in the former Soviet Union and Africa. The conditions described by Dr. Tabet are worse than those we have observed in much less prosperous countries than the United States and certainly constitute a grave human rights crisis for Limestone inmates, particularly those living with HIV/AIDS.
For example, during a recent visit to Kazakhstan—a country notable for its poverty—we met with HIV-positive prisoners who, like those in Limestone, were unjustifiably isolated from other inmates. But unlike those described in Dr. Tabet’s report, they were well fed, were not required to stand in line for long periods to receive their medications, and their health was carefully monitored by the medical staff. It is rather shocking that a very poor country such as Kazakhstan looks after its HIV-positive prisoners apparently more humanely and effectively than a facility in Alabama.
As you may know, in addition to the guidelines of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to which Dr. Tabet refers, international human rights instruments articulate the right of prisoners to humane conditions of confinement, which include access to decent water and sanitation facilities, and the availability of adequately nutritious food. Prisoners also have the right to medical care by qualified staff, including emergency or specialized care as needed, and adequate protection from contagious diseases. Dr. Tabet’s findings that HIV-positive inmates died of malnutrition and preventable infectious conditions are particularly shocking. The lack of access to bathing facilities for ill and disabled inmates is unacceptable.
We urge you to address with all urgency the atrocious abuses of the right to health documented by Dr. Tabet and urge you further to make a public report of the actions undertaken by the state to address these conditions. We further recommend that the Department of Corrections establish a system of independent monitoring by public health experts of the health conditions at Limestone. There should also be independent monitoring of other correctional facilities in Alabama to ensure that the tragic events in Limestone are not being replicated elsewhere in the state. We look forward to following the state’s response to this urgent matter.
Very truly yours,
Joanne Csete, Ph.D.
Director, HIV/AIDS Program |
Jamie Fellner, Esq.
Director, U.S. Program |
cc: Hon. Bill Pryor, Attorney General, State of Alabama
Mr. Donal Campbell, Commissioner, Department of Corrections
Dr. Ron Cavanaugh, Director, Treatment Services, Department of Corrections
