Court to Review Rights of Disabled Inmates

[Judi Lynn]

Court to Review Rights of Disabled Inmates
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

Monday, May 16, 2005

(05-16) 08:50 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

The Supreme Court said Monday that it will decide if states and counties can be sued for not accommodating disabled prisoners, setting up another legal showdown over the power of Congress to tell states what to do.
(snip)

Justices will consider the case of Tony Goodman, who claims he has been held for more than 23 hours a day in a cell so narrow he cannot turn his wheelchair.

Goodman, who suffered his injuries in a car accident, is serving time for aggravated assault and a cocaine conviction. He claims that because the prison in Reidsville, Ga., is not equipped for people in wheelchairs, he cannot go to the bathroom or bathe without help, and does not have access to counseling, classes and religious services. He has sometimes been forced to sit in his own waste, according to Goodman's lawsuit.

Paul Clement, the president's lead Supreme Court lawyer, told justices in a filing that ADA's protections address "the inhumane, degrading, and health-endangering conditions of daily living for inmates."
(snip)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/16/national/w073142D40.DTL

[KamaAina]

1. This goes on all the time

We had a case here in which a woman who is Deaf was denied access to sign language interpreters. Without them, she was unable to participate in any prison activities -- the very ones for which you get credit leading to "time off for good behavior".

Discrimination, pure and simple.

By the way, where is this guy being held? Abu Ghraib? Gitmo? How can there still be a jail cell in America in 2005 that is too small to turn a wheelchair around? I'm picturing bread and water, melancholy harmonica music, days until release being scratched into the wall, the works.

[thecai]

4. There Are Worse Jails and Prisons Than That...

...right here in America. Check out "The ROCK" link on my webpage;

http://hometown.aol.com/sonrisepark/myhomepage/index.html

[jwirr]

2. We had a young man who had epilepsy in

jail and they refused to believe he had seizures - thought he was faking it. Since he has lived in our community since his first one at age 6 all they had to do was check with other authorities, such as the schools.

[joldnir]

3. Has happened to someone in my family

A brother who has a list of mental problems (Asperger's and bipolar just to name two) and a GAF score of 42, went for a misdemeanor. He was ordered to pay $500 fine or spend 90 days in jail. Since he was 3 days way from getting his disability pay for the first time, the court ruled he was not getting disability.

When he is off his meds and on a down cycle he becomes very suicidal. So, the jail stripped him, through him into a cell with nothing but a toilet, and kept the ac on. Once the family found out what had happened, we paid his fine and got him out of there. The jail waited 3 hours before releasing him to us. They said he was being processed out, but I feel it was to warm him back up. Even then, he was cold to the touch and his lips were blue. We had to drive home, in July, with the windows up and the heat on full blast.