Adam Serwer on prison inmates with HIV:
Two states in the union, South Carolina and Alabama, segregate their HIV-positive inmates, a policy that is essentially a compound punishment on top of whatever sentence they've already received. They're forced to wear markers identifying their status, they're denied access to many of the same privileges and programs that inmates who aren't HIV positive have, including those that can contribute eligibility for early release. Being HIV positive means that they're forced to live under maximum-security conditions regardless of the severity of their crimes. A thief and a murderer are treated the same if the thief is HIV positive, where otherwise the thief might have been eligible for imprisonment in say, a medium-security facility. In addition to the individual rights violated by involuntary testing, an individual's status is also involuntarily disclosed to their friends and family members upon their placement in a segregated facility.