Able News Column April 2025 – Fighting for the Rights of Disabled People in Prisons
Discrimination against disabled people in jails and prisons is rampant, and DRA is working tirelessly to combat this across the country. Over the years, people with disabilities have been unnecessarily institutionalized in disproportionately large numbers. Early dark chapters of disability history include people with disabilities who lived for extended periods of time in institutions that only worsened their conditions, such as the horrors of people locked away without basic necessities at Willowbrook State School. It was only in 1999 that the Supreme Court, in Olmstead v. L.C., ruled that unnecessarily segregating people with disabilities in institutions when they could receive community-based services violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Today, prisons are often de facto institutions for people with disabilities in that disabled people are overrepresented in these facilities. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, people with disabilities are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is more than double that of their nondisabled peers. They also frequently remain incarcerated for longer than necessary because they often encounter accessibility barriers when trying to participate in education and programming that could reduce their sentences.
For decades, DRA has achieved victories and secured legal precedents on behalf of incarcerated people with disabilities. As I shared in the December issue of Able News, DRA, the Legal Aid Society, and Winston & Strawn LLP filed a case in May 2024 on behalf of incarcerated New Yorkers with disabilities against the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) and the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) for violating the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement Act (HALT). This powerful law banned the use of solitary confinement for any person with any type of disability, starting in March 2022. Because DOCCS and OMH continued to subject hundreds of people with all types of disabilities to solitary confinement after HALT became law, we filed the case last year.
February 2025 brought a new development that required our legal team to engage quickly—thousands of correctional officers, whose union has fought implementing HALT since the law took effect, engaged in illegal strikes at prisons across New York State. This had a significant negative impact on our clients in that solitary confinement at prisons, already pervasive and illegal, worsened as incarcerated people were deprived of their most basic needs, including food and medical treatment. At least nine people incarcerated in New York’s state prisons have died during the strike.
On February 20, DOCCS began making vague announcements suggesting that they would not be following HALT. On March 8, DOCCS reached an agreement with the correctional officers’ union in which DOCCS again claimed the power to “suspend” unspecified parts of this critical state law. Because DOCCS would not clarify their position, our legal team sought and secured an order from the court to require DOCCS to clarify which provisions of HALT they were no longer following as a result of the illegal strikes. In this way, we are continuing to hold DOCCS accountable through the judicial system. Our work in this critical case continues as we fight for the rights of disabled New Yorkers who are incarcerated.
We also recently reached a landmark settlement that securing the rights of deaf prisoners in Tennessee in a case together with Disability Rights Tennessee, Fox & Robertson, and Disability Law United. Before our clients filed this case, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) had failed time and time again to provide basic access to effective communication. For example, TDOC did not provide an interpreter during one of our client’s intake and orientation process, which meant he could not learn the basic rules to follow while he was incarcerated; he was later punished for not following these rules. Because he did not have an interpreter during intake and orientation, he also could not participate in developing a plan for personalized rehabilitative programming, which is standard for prisoners. Another client went through ten disciplinary hearings without a sign language interpreter. Our clients often did not have videophones, captioning, or sign language interpreters for medical appointments, religious services, parole hearings, disciplinary proceedings, and more.
This case settled almost five years after it was filed, which demonstrates how long it can take to create systemic change. In fact, we did not reach a settlement until the team of attorneys and support staff had already flown to Nashville and were preparing to start trial the following day!
Through the settlement, TDOC will be required to provide effective communication to deaf prisoners. Once TDOC identifies that a prisoner is deaf, they will conduct a needs assessment to determine what technology and services an individual needs to ensure they have effective communication. TDOC will be required to provide sign language interpreters for the most critical interactions that occur in a prison; these include intake and orientation, medical and mental health appointments, educational and vocational programming, religious services, and discipline and parole-related proceedings. TDOC will also be required to provide videophones both at their intake facilities and any facility that houses a deaf person.
As with all of DRA’s cases, our work does not end just because we have a signed settlement agreement. In this case, attorneys will be monitoring the settlement agreement to be sure it is implemented for the next two years. During that time, the attorneys on the case will remain in close contact with our clients, and if there are any difficulties with them receiving the services or technology the settlement requires, we will work to resolve any issues with TDOC, but have agreed that we can go back to the court for enforcement if necessary. Our hope is that this settlement will serve as a model for other prison systems that are violating the rights of deaf prisoners.
Together with our clients and co-counsel, DRA continues critical work to protect the rights of people with disabilities who are incarcerated.