Федеральный судья утвердил план по устранению нарушений прав инвалидов в тюрьмах округа Санта-Клара

SAN JOSE — A federal judge has approved a far-reaching plan aimed at rapidly improving conditions for people with limited mobility in Santa Clara County jails, resolving a three-year-old class-action lawsuit that alleged minimal to nonexistent accommodations for scores of disabled inmates. The consent decree stems from an agreement reached in February between the county and a group of inmates who sued in 2016 over a lack of accessibility in the Main Jail in North San Jose and the Elmwood jail complex in Milpitas. David Cole, the lead plaintiff, recounted how he was admitted into jail in 2012 with a broken foot and that it took weeks for him to obtain a wheelchair — one of the numerous grievances he had with his treatment. “I’m very happy with the results of this suit,” said Cole — who was represented by the nonprofit Disability Rights Advocates and the San Francisco-based Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld — on Thursday. “There was very little being done concerning the changes that needed to be made prior to DRA’s involvement in this whole situation. There was no ear toward making things consistent across the board with mobility impairment in the general population areas of the jail.” The decree will require a court-appointed monitor to ill oversee the county’s efforts to achieve robust ADA compliance, including making sure that both a new wing already in the works and existing custody facilities are handicapped accessible. Some changes, which went into motion as the three-year litigation made its way to a resolution, included removing barriers on main pathways that would impede wheelchair users and others with climbing limitations, changing the size of a select number of cells and dorms to allow more movement. Other immediate modifications include making sure toilets, sinks and counters are set at an ADA-compliant height, and reducing slopes of walkways. A statement from chief County Counsel James Williams stated the county has allocated $100 million to “ADA jail construction improvements,” and that construction plans for the new Main Jail South building will have “substantial” accommodations for inmates with limited mobility. “The county continues to diligently complete all of the planned construction projects while simultaneously addressing the operational changes necessary to provide for the reasonable accommodation of inmates with mobility disabilities,” Williams wrote. “With the court’s approval of this settlement, the county can finalize its implementation of the jail reforms set out in the agreement.” The Sheriff’s Office, which operates the county jails, deferred inquiries to Williams’ office, but sources familiar with the lawsuit noted that many of the facilities long predate the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, with some buildings being more than half a century old. But for DRA staff attorney Michelle Iorio, the effects of non-compliance went well beyond physical elements. By forcing disabled inmates into inadequate spaces, she said, some experienced virtual isolation. Cole asserts he was deprived of interaction with other inmates because he used a wheelchair that couldn’t easily or safely move around general population areas. “By virtue of being in this chair, I was treated as a disciplinary inmate,” Cole said. Cole was first booked into the Main Jail for drug possession charges in November 2012 and spent two years in custody fighting the case before he was sentenced to the medium-security Elmwood facility in 2014. In all, he spent three-and-a-half years in jail, and the lawsuit was filed not long after he was released. The suit aligned with the disability rights group’s investigation of the jails’ disability compliance, followed by several years of negotiation toward a settlement, which was reached in February and approved by Northern District of California Judge Lucy Koh at the end of March. The term of the decree and monitoring period is tied to the construction of the new jail wing, plus one year, meaning that the monitor will be able to ensure compliance after the building is finished. Iorio said that historically, state prisons have received the lion’s share of resources when it came to ADA compliance, but that in an era where county jails are now tasked with housing nonviolent offenders to reduce the prison population, a local emphasis is now necessary. “Not as much attention has been given to local jails,” she said. “And after the new jail is built, for a year going forward, we can make sure none of the same problems creep in, and make sure other facilities aren’t falling by the wayside.” The settlement also marked the second federal consent decree involving the county jails in a month. In March, a federal judge formally settled a class-action suit against the county by the Prison Law Office to dramatically improve jail conditions, a cause that was given renewed momentum after the 2015 beating death of mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree at the Main Jail, which led to murder convictions for three correctional deputies.