While Alabama had been the only state barring HIV-positive prisoners from entering work release programs, the state Department of Corrections has lifted the ban, allowing these prisoners to hold free-world jobs, earn money, wear plain clothes and work without correction staff supervision, The Associated Press reports.

According to the article, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) praised state officials for lifting the ban earlier this week, a move that Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU National Prison Project, called an overdue change.