Open in App
  • Local
  • Headlines
  • Election
  • Crime Map
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Education
  • Real Estate
  • Newsletter
  • WKRN News 2

    Federal judge rules TN Department of Correction violated ADA

    By Mye Owens,

    2024-07-17

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1GatwF_0uTpy35H00

    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 .

    📧 Have breaking news come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts

    “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.'”

    2024-07-09-208-Memorandum-re-SJ-and-expert-motions-162-167-170 Download

    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.

    Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com

    “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.

    Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

    For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.

    Related Search

    Tn Department of correctionDisability rightsPrison system reformsWkrn newsDisability rights advocatesNexstar Media Inc.

    Comments / 13

    Add a Comment
    Bobby Harley
    07-18
    put it like this in Cookeville Tn there sometime has75 to 80 people in 35 person block if you say to much the jailers bet the shin out of them in anyone ask they fell in the shower the law here backs each other they not seen anything they are just as bad in the streets my self I think they need to put them in training just like the army for at least 12 weeks not to come home until there done at least 1 leave I say thar none has ever been the army the just give them a bage an a gun and say there the law that say some of us has better training then they do that sad to know
    TheTruthshallsetyoufree
    07-17
    More small East Tn jails now
    View all comments

    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

    Local News newsLocal News
    The Shenandoah (PA) Sentinel9 days ago

    Comments / 0