Report finds services lacking for inmates with disabilities

A new report released last week by disability and prisoner advocates aims to raise awareness of what they are calling a “lack of accommodations” for inmates with physical disabilities, cognitive impairments and multiple other special needs.

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2016-06-27 / Front Page Report finds services lacking for inmates with disabilities Local Vermont prisons currently meeting needs By Tory Jones Bonenfant toryb@eagletimes.com SPRINGFIELD and WINDSOR — A new report released last week by disability and prisoner advocates aims to raise awareness of what they are calling a “lack of accommodations” for inmates with physical disabilities, cognitive impairments and multiple other special needs. Amplifying Voices of Prisoners with Disabilities (AVID), a project of Disability Rights Washington, has released a 36-page report titled “Making Hard Time Harder: Programmatic Accommodations for Inmates with Disabilities Under the Americans with Disabilities Act” on Wednesday, June 22. The report outlines a lack of accommodations for inmates with disabilities in prisons nationwide. “People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment,” said Mark Stroh, executive director of Disability Rights Washington in a joint press release from the Montpelier-based Disability Rights Vermont (DAVT) and AVID Prison Project. “In drafting this report, we have found that inmates with disabilities are often neglected and excluded from programs, rehabilitation, and basic medical care, subjecting them to additional forms of punishment solely due to their disability.” In southeastern Vermont, prison directors say the needs of inmates are being met, but facilities also welcome help with how to best accommodate inmate with special needs. Vermont Department of Corrections (VDOC) Director of Correctional Facilities Michael Touchette said on Friday, June 24 that the VDOC’s inmate population among the seven correctional facilities in the state does include some inmates with disabilities, but that he did not have an exact number on hand. “Yes, we could always use accommodations,” he said when asked whether the department was meeting the needs of all inmates with disabilities, or could use more accommodations. Nationally, more than 600,000 inmates with disabilities in prisons across the country spend more time in prison, under harsher conditions, than inmates without disabilities, according to research in the report. According to AVID’s website, protection and advocacy agencies (P&As) have received reports of “inmates forced to drag themselves across their cell or sleep on the floor because their cane or walker was removed.” Information on that website, which draws statistics from a 2014 American Civil Liberties Union brief, also states that “inmates with cognitive disorders, intellectual disabilities, or mental illness have sought assistance because they are unable to complete the programming required to move out of restrictive housing, forcing them to remain in segregation for years, if not decades.” Touchette said that he had not yet seen the report, but that he plans to visit the link to review it and the suggestions within it. He also plans to share it with VDOC Director of Nursing Heidi Fox, who also acts as Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator for the department, he said. Fox said on Friday that she is new in the position, but finds that the department of corrections is staying current with and meeting the needs of inmates with disabilities. “I really feel very strongly that this is an opportunity to help people,” Fox said. “I feel we are meeting people’s needs, at least the needs that we are aware of.” Fox said that she also has a vocational rehabilitation team that is readily available when an inmate has special needs or requires accommodation for a disability. She also plans to attend an ADA conference in the fall to keep current on topics relating to persons with disabilities, she said. At the VDOC’s Southeast State Correctional Facility in Windsor, Superintendent Kat Tkaczyk said on Friday, June 24 that she had no official statement on the recently-released report, but that it would not apply specifically to SESCE. “We don’t have inmates with those types of requirements,” she said. Tkacyzk said that the seven facilities in the VDOC network each have specialties, but the Windsor facility was not built for that purpose. A call to Superintendent P. Mark Potanas with the Vermont Department of Correction’s Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield was not returned by the end of the day on Friday. Report findings include case examples submitted by P&As engaged in prison work in 21 states. Colorado, Washington, and South Carolina all reported cases in which mobility devices such as wheelchairs and walkers were taken from inmates. One case resulted in an inmate’s inability to access showers or outside yard for almost two years, according to the report. Idaho and Illinois reported “systemic litigation” seeking the provision of video phone services for inmates who are deaf or hard of hearing. Alabama reported that inmates with intellectual disabilities could not access medical care in a written request, and were therefore unable to receive needed medical attention, prompting federal litigation, all according to the report. Disability Rights Vermont (DRVT), a Vermont protection and advocacy system, is working on these issues in Vermont, according to the press release. The “Making It Harder” report includes the story of one Vermont prisoner with disabilities who needed, and was denied, reasonable accommodations so that he could effectively participate in treatment while in prison. That treatment would have been required to allow him to return to the community, all according to DRVT. DRVT intervened on that inmate’s behalf , and helped obtain the reasonable accommodations for his disabilities that he needed to succeed in his mandatory programming. DRVT recently was awarded a 2016 National Advocacy Award from the National Disability Rights Network for its work to prevent “unlawful and harmful disability-based discrimination against people with disabilities in our Correctional System,” all according to the press release. “Despite the passage of the ADA over two decades ago, much state prison work remains to be done,” wrote the report’s author, Rachel Seevers, an attorney with Disability Rights Washington’s AVID Prison Project. To address the lack of accommodations in prisons, the report includes the following recommendations: 1. Creation of independent corrections ombuds offices at the state level in order to address inmate concerns before they rise to the level of litigation. 2. Systemic accessibility reviews by state departments of corrections to identify both physical and programmatic barriers for inmates with disabilities. 3. Increased federal funding to the protection and advocacy network for corrections based monitoring and advocacy. 4. Increased training for prison ADA coordinators and collaboration between these staff members and the local P&As to address inmate concerns. The AVID Prison Project is a prison advocacy initiative that focuses on the needs of current and former prisoners with disabilities. The project was developed by Disability Rights Washington and is a collaboration between the Arizona Center for Disability Law, Disability Law Colorado, the Advocacy Center of Louisiana, Disability Rights New York, Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities of South Carolina, Disability Rights Texas, Disability Rights Washington, and the National Disability Rights Network, with contributions from other protection and advocacy agencies. The full report is available in a word document and PDF format at AVIDprisonproject.org, where original interviews with inmates with disabilities, their family members, and experts on disability issues in correctional settings, can also be viewed.