Authors

Dillon Schweers

Why (and How) the Constitution Should Protect Prisoners from Gratuitous Disclosure of Their HIV/AIDS Status

Abstract

This Note is not the first to advocate for prisoners’ constitutional privacy rights concerning their HIV/AIDS status, but it is the first to focus on isolated incidents of disclosure rather than general policies that tend to lead to disclosure like mandatory testing or segregation based on HIV/AIDS status. This Note argues that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause should protect prisoners from isolated disclosures, meaning prisoners should have a § 1983 cause of action against guards or other prison officials who disclose their HIV/AIDS status in a gratuitous manner.

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The proceeding section of this Note, Part I, details the existing legal framework for constitutional privacy rights, from the seminal case Whalen v. Roe to the current circuit split. Part II explores the Payne decision in depth to explain why other circuits should not follow the Fourth Circuit’s holding concerning the privacy rights of incarcerated people. Part III explains why the Fourteenth Amendment is the proper source of privacy protection compared to the Eighth Amendment and state law remedies. Finally, Part IV addresses important questions pertaining to § 1983 litigation for gratuitous disclosure.

This abstract has been taken from the author's introduction.

Repository Citation

Dillon Schweers, Why (and How) the Constitution Should Protect Prisoners from Gratuitous Disclosure of Their HIV/AIDS Status, 65 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 459 (2023), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol65/iss2/6