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  • The Marshall Project

    I Survived Prison During The AIDS Epidemic. Here’s What It Taught Me About Coronavirus

    While COVID-19 isn’t an automatic death sentence, but the fear, vilification and isolation are the same.
    by Richard Rivera May 15, 2020 6 minutes

    As a harm reduction technician for an HIV/AIDS organization, I work with a lot of people at risk for COVID-19, including those who are homeless. I’m seeing some of the same magicalized and panicked responses to this virus that I witnessed when I was in prison at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

    Life Inside Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. Sign up to receive "Life Inside" emailed to you every week. Related Stories

    In the early 1980s, the New York State prison system was overcome by a strange phenomenon. All around me, guys began to experience sudden weight loss, sores in their mouth, a persistent cough, opportunistic diseases and other inexplicable problems. Rumors of “that gay disease” (its official name was “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency,” or GRID) were popping up on the local and even national news, but no one knew what was going on. It would take years for the medical profession to isolate and properly understand

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