Federal judge rules TN Department of Correction violated ADA

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — In July, a federal judge granted a partial judgment to multiple plaintiffs after finding the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) violated federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The judge found that TDOC failed to provide sign language interpreters in connection with prison programming, medical appointments, religious services, and legal processes. Additionally, the judge found the TDOC failed to provide videophones to some Deaf prisoners.

“One in eight people have some sort of hearing disability. If that is the population, you can only expect that there is going to be significant amounts in the prison system that have a Hard-of-Hearing disability,” explained Stacie Price, the Legal Director with Disability Rights TN .

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“One of our plaintiffs wanted to get his GED while in prison so when he was released, which he was, he would have more job opportunities…Since he did not have a sign language interpreter, he was not able to get that GED,” Price said. “Upon release, it was very difficult for him to find a job.”

The case was filed back in 2020 on behalf of a number of individual prisoners. Court documents showed the plaintiffs identified 269 occasions between 2015 and 2023 where a translator should have been provided, but was not.

“One of our plaintiffs is Deaf, and has three Deaf children himself,” Price added. “Because he did not have access to a video phone, he was not able to communicate or see his children for over a year.”

In her opinion, Judge Aleta A. Trager wrote that accommodations for Deaf prisoners “were frequently not provided by TDOC.”

“We have very concerned family members that will call in and say, ‘I haven’t heard from my Deaf loved one who’s incarcerated for six months,’ ‘I don’t know how to get ahold of them, there’s no telephone they can use.’ They are understandably very upset and worried about their loved one,” Price said. “We also get letters from Deaf and incarcerated people — if they do know English, some of them don’t — or they will have a friend [and have them] write us a letter that says ‘Please help me.'”

While the decision resolved several of the major claims in the case, the court still needs to decide the remaining claims in addition to a remedy for these violations. The court also has to determine damages for individual plaintiffs. A trial is set for January 2025.

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“The order was a significant victory for deaf prisoners in Tennessee and set precedents on a number of issues that will be of value to all prisoners – Deaf and hearing – around the country and to the organizations that work with them,” said Amy Robertson, who is co-lead counsel along with Disability Rights Advocates.

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