The State : Guard With AIDS Fired

A prison guard suffering from AIDS was fired because he refused to accept reassignment, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons official confirmed. Jason Swinney, 32, who worked at the Federal Correctional Institution in Pleasanton, was transferred to a job as mail clerk in the bureau’s San Francisco office after the AIDS diagnosis. Swinney, who plans to appeal the discharge, contends that the bureau simply wanted to get rid of him, adding: “I was a damn good correctional officer. I was fair and respected. It’s not my fault I got sick.” The Bureau of Prisons is part of the U.S. Justice Department, which has ruled that AIDS sufferers are not protected under federal statutes against job discrimination against the handicapped.