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Rachel Maddow

Maddow, currently the host of MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," worked for the National Prison Project between 2002 and 2004.

Inmates at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, pass the time in the HIV ward in Wetumpka, Ala., Monday, March 17, 2008. Inmate advocates say Alabama is the only state that bars prisoners with the AIDS virus from participating in work release programs.

Progress in Alabama prisons

Rachel Maddow, Margaret Winter