Deaf prisoners in TN lacked interpreters, videophones in violation of ADA, judge rules

A federal judge this week ruled that Tennessee prisons violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and an anti-discrimination law by failing to provide sign language interpreters and videophones to a group of deaf prisoners who sued the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Under the ADA, deaf prisoners have the right to accommodations that provide communication that is as effective as communication for prisoners without disabilities. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act protects people with disabilities from discrimination.

U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger wrote in the ruling published Tuesday that accommodations for deaf prisoners "were frequently not provided by TDOC" and granted partial summary judgment to some of the plaintiffs in the case.

"The plaintiffs have identified hundreds of high-stakes interactions in which interpreters were not provided, many of which involved situations — such as receiving medical care — in which effective communication is an inherently vital component," Trauger wrote.

She wrote there "is no longer any basis for disputing that such violations generally existed and were manifestations of a continuous, ongoing policy or practice."

She also wrote that "unrefuted evidence shows" that TDOC repeatedly failed to provide videophones for deaf prisoners or provided them on inferior terms.

Two incarcerated people filed the lawsuit in March 2020. Other plaintiffs later joined the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are represented by Disability Rights Advocates, Disability Rights Tennessee, Disability Law United and the Denver-based civil rights firm Fox & Robertson.

An attorney at Disability Rights Advocates said TDOC's failure to adequately provide accommodations to her clients "deprives them of meaningful human connection, basic health care, and opportunities for rehabilitation while they ... serve their sentences."

"The Court was right to recognize the gravity of TDOC’s failures and to find TDOC in violation of federal disability rights law,” Madeleine Reichman, senior staff attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, said in a news release sent Thursday.

Trauger noted in the ruling that TDOC’s policies now “require the provision of appropriate auxiliary aids and services” in many of the settings the prisoners said accommodations were lacking, including medical encounters, vocational programming, religious services, and parole and disciplinary proceedings.

Trauger did not rule entirely in favor of all plaintiffs, barring several claims because of the plaintiffs' failure to fully exhaust their prisons' grievance processes or because the statute of limitations had expired.

Some other claims still remain and will be decided at a trial set for January 2025, according to Disability Rights Advocates' news release. Remedies for the violations identified in Trauger's ruling, as well as damages for the individuals plaintiffs, will also be determined at trial, the news release states.

TDOC did not provide comment in time for publication.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMe a lins .

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Deaf prisoners in TN lacked interpreters, videophones in violation of ADA, judge rules