Editing AIDS Crisis in Philadelphia (section)

== Institutional Failures ==

Philadelphia's institutional response to AIDS was marked by both achievement and failure. Some healthcare providers and public health officials responded with professionalism and compassion; others demonstrated the stigma and discrimination that made the epidemic worse. The [[Frank Rizzo Era|Rizzo administration]] and its immediate successors were slow to acknowledge the epidemic's severity or commit resources to fighting it. Federal leadership was even worse—the Reagan administration's neglect of AIDS became a defining failure of the era. People with AIDS faced discrimination in employment, housing, and healthcare; some were denied treatment, evicted, or fired when their diagnosis became known.<ref name="grmek"/>

The prison system became a significant venue of HIV transmission and neglect. Injection drug use was common among inmates, and needle-sharing spread the virus. Medical care in prisons was often inadequate. Infected inmates were sometimes segregated in conditions that added punishment to illness. The intersection of the AIDS crisis with mass incarceration—which disproportionately affected communities of color—accelerated the epidemic's spread into African American and Latino communities. Prisons became what activists called "amplifiers" of the epidemic, concentrating infection and then releasing infected individuals back to communities without adequate treatment or support.<ref name="epstein"/>