ACLU SUIT: JAIL TREATMENT OF DISABLED 'MEDIEVAL' CLAIMS: PRISONERS LEFT TO LIE IN WASTE.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Describing it as one of the most egregious e·gre·gious adj. Conspicuously bad or offensive. See Synonyms at flagrant. [From Latin examples of jail brutality, civil and disability rights attorneys Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County alleging widespread violations against disabled jail inmates. The lawsuit alleges people with disabilities face inhumane in·hu·mane adj. Lacking pity or compassion. in  hu·mane ly adv. treatment and are illegally discriminated against because the jail
system routinely fails to accommodate their basic needs.
"This is the most egregious example of government brutality I have ever witnessed," civil-rights attorney Virginia Keeny said. "These individuals are being treated worse than animals." In interviews with 70 inmates, the attorneys cited inmate accounts of having to lie in their own waste for hours because wheelchair-accessible toilets and showers were not available or because their catheter bags were taken away. Others said they had to drag themselves on the floor because they had no access to their wheelchairs or bathroom doors weren't wide enough to accommodate them. Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , said the jail conditions are "medieval." Of the jail system's 17,500 inmates, about 1,000 to 2,000 are disabled, Rosenbaum said. "This really is the bottom of the barrel," Rosenbaum said. "We found conditions that you would expect to find in a Dickens novel, not a 2008 jail in Los Angeles." But Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. called the lawsuit "unreasonable and unfair." And he disputed Rosenbaum's estimate of the number of disabled people in the jails, saying 2,000 are under medical care but fewer than 100 are in wheelchairs. But Baca said he's considering allowing disabled inmates held prior to trial to remain at home under electronic monitoring. "Naturally, there is a need to recognize the needs of disabled people in the county jails that cost us close to $1,000 a day," Baca said. "Some inmates, because of crowded conditions, will have to wait longer for certain services. "The key is to try to meet the needs of all these inmates. The ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. should recognize that and not be so hasty to file lawsuits that cost taxpayer dollars to defend when we should be spending those dollars on fixing the problems." The lawsuit alleges widespread and pervasive violations related to classification, housing, access to programs and services, medical care and physical barriers for people with disabilities. "We were shocked to find the degree of degradation and segregation for people with disabilities in the jails," said Melinda Bird, senior counsel for the ACLU. "Overcrowding overcrowding overcrowding of animal accommodation. Many countries now publish codes of practice which define what the appropriate volumetric allowances should be for each species of animal when they are housed indoors. Breaches of these codes is overcrowding. is a persistent evil in the jails and the deputies become overwhelmed o·ver·whelm tr.v. o·ver·whelmed, o·ver·whelm·ing, o·ver·whelms 1. To surge over and submerge; engulf: waves overwhelming the rocky shoreline. 2. a. and hardened to the suffering they see around them, and this is extended to the inmates with disabilities as well." In a court declaration, military veteran Donald Peterson, 47, wrote that after he had been in jail for a while, his wheelchair was taken away and he was given a walker, causing him to fall periodically. Peterson, who suffers from diabetes and is disabled from being shot in the back and hip, later had his catheter bag taken away by deputies, who put him on a top bunk bunk, bunker large storage bin. bunk forage forage, usually ensilage stored in a large storage bunk and made available to cattle or other livestock along a face of the storage. , he said. He said he fell several times while trying to get down to go to the bathroom. While housed in the general population for three days, Peterson said, he wasn't given crutches to help him get around. Shawna L. Parks, director of litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. at the Disability Rights Legal Center, said the conditions in the jail are "just about the worse we've seen" in the nation. "The problem is the system doesn't give sheriff's deputies the tools to do the right thing," Parks said. "Disabled people are completely at the bottom of the priority list. This case is really about reprioritizing and moving these issues to the top of the agenda." troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com 213-974-8985 |
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