South Carolina, Alabama End Practice of Segregating HIV-Positive Inmates

Last states to do so

South Carolina and Alabama, the last two states in America to segregate inmates with HIV from general prison populations, agreed this week to abandon the practice.

While South Carolina's deal was timed with Attorney General Eric Holder's filing of a federal complaint in Columbia, S.C., Alabama settled only after years of legal wrangling with the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU had previously slammed the shameful and discriminatory practice of creating "HIV ghettos" in U.S. prisons.