The state hasn't kept its agreement to improve its medical care to HIV inmates at Limestone Correctional Facility, say attorneys for inmate plaintiffs.

Attorneys with the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a contempt motion Friday, alleging that the prison has done little in the eight months since the settlement to ensure adequate medical care for the HIV-positive men housed there.

"They haven't followed the core provisions we agreed upon," said attorney Joshua Lipman. "They don't have an HIV specialist on board, they're understaffed with physicians, they aren't responding to emergencies, and they're letting inmates who work in the prison hospital determine whether or not to contact a nurse."

Lipman said the prison is also guilty of "tremendous delays" in getting the inmates their daily HIV medicine. That's dangerous because "they can become resistant to the medications, and the medication will stop working for them."

The motion was filed at the federal courthouse in Birmingham where U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre supervised months of negotiations last year. Lipman said he hopes the judge acts quickly on the motion.

"This is a serious, dire situation," he said. "There are lives in jeopardy."

Attorney Kim Thomas, general counsel for the Alabama Department of Corrections, said she couldn't comment on the motion Friday afternoon.

"It's about a half-inch thick, and I've had it in my hands for about 15 minutes," she said. "I can't respond to what it says because I don't know what it says."

The class-action lawsuit was filed in late 2002. Defendants were the Alabama Department of Corrections, Limestone Correctional Facility and NaphCare Inc., which provided medical care throughout the prison system.

The plaintiffs claimed that at least 41 inmates died between 1999 and 2002 from starvation, delays in life-saving treatments, and the spread of contagious infections such as tuberculosis.

Brian Corbett, a spokesman with the Department of Corrections, said the state is working to remain in compliance with the settlement.

"We've moved the inmates from dorms of 16 to dorms of six or seven," he said. "It's true we don't have an HIV specialist at Limestone, but we did have one who recently resigned.

"We take this issue seriously, and compliance is a big objective."