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November 27, 2007
Former Inmate Sues for Lack of HIV Treatment
Kevin Suave, a former inmate, has filed a lawsuit against Florida’s Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Armor Correctional Health Services, a prison health care contractor, for denying him HIV treatment while he was in prison (sun-sentinel.com, 11/27).
Suave, 36, spent three months in a Broward County Jail and claims he made multiple requests for HIV medication. According to the lawsuit, he never received them, even after he described his piercing ear pain, night sweats and weight loss in a written appeal. “I was freaking out,” said Suave. “I really thought I was left in there to die.”
The judge in charge of Suave’s criminal case ultimately ordered his release so that he could go to his own physician to receive treatment. His case is one of two recent suits against the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and Armor for delaying treatment for HIV-positive inmates. “In this day and age, when we know so much about HIV and how to treat it, this is just unacceptable,” said Greg Lauer, Suave’s lawyer.
Officials at the Sheriff’s Office and Armor refute the charges.
About 3 percent of the 68,000 inmates who pass through the Broward County jail system each year are HIV positive.
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