August 5, 2009

Judge Revises HIV-Positive Pregnant Woman’s Jail Time

On August 4, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock resentenced Quinta Layin Tuleh, a pregnant, HIV-positive woman, to 114 days, or time served, for possessing a false Social Security card and work permit, the Bangor Daily News reports.

In May, Woodcock sentenced the African woman to 238 days to ensure she got proper medical care to decrease the risk of her child being born positive. However, Tuleh was released June 15 on personal recognizance bail after the staff at Peabody Center in Portland promised to treat her.

In response to the verdict, more than 40 organizations signed a “friend of the court” document that called for her to be sentenced to time served.

“The widespread support in favor of a reversal of the sentence shows that we are no longer a society which incarcerates the sick and the poor because they are sick and poor,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

In addition to the revised jail time, Tuleh was ordered to two years of supervised release through the U.S. Department of Probation and Pretrial Services.

NEW! Scroll down to comment on this story.

Previous Comments:

Michael, Haslett, 2009-08-06 11:55:31
This story is a little sad, because she sort of got away with her crime because she has HIV. She should have been treated so to hopefully not pass the HIV onto her unborn child, but yet serve time for her crime. She was not sent to prison because she had HIV, but because she had a false S.S card and work permit.