When someone is released on parole or supervised release in D.C., there is a lot that person must do to stay out of prison. In D.C., the American Civil Liberties Union believes those rules fail to consider a person’s disabilities, and is setting those trying to rejoin society up for failure.
“There are just absolutely no policies or procedures to assess their accommodation needs, or to provide the accommodations that people need just to have an equal shot at completing supervision and staying in their communities,” said Allison Frankel, a staff attorney for the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU.
The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against both the United States Parole Commission and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency with the goal of forcing the agencies to put in place a better system for helping people with disabilities.
According to Frankel, difficulties for people suffering from both physical and mental health issues have led to mandatory appointments and other conditions not being met — and those individuals being put back behind bars due to those violations.
One such case, according to Frankel, is that of a man who is only identified in court documents as Mr. Mathis, a middle-aged man who is on parole for 18 years and suffers from congestive heart failure.
He was recently incarcerated for about 10 days for technical violations, including not reporting, and that was on days that he was in the hospital because of his disability. Frankel said Mathis also missed a planned procedure to treat his heart condition due to his incarceration.
In another case, a man identified as Mr. Davis was sent back to jail for 12 months for a “technical violation” that Frankel said was related to his disabilities, which include mobility issues due to severe burns and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Due to this incarceration, (Mr. Davis) missed a critical surgery for his burns that had already been scheduled,” she said.
Frankel said the case comes down to the fact that both the United States Parole Commission and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency are violating federal disability law.
The lawsuit’s goal, Frankel said, is to have the courts require both organizations come up with new guidelines that consider a person’s disabilities.
“That means implementing a system to determine when someone is placed on supervision, what accommodations they need, and to provide those needed accommodations so that people with disabilities actually have an equal opportunity to succeed on supervision,” she said.
A spokeswoman with the U.S. Parole Commission told WTOP the federal agency does not comment on pending legal matters.
WTOP has reached out to both the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for comment.
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