In the long-running Armstrong class action on behalf of incarcerated persons with disabilities, Judge Claudia Wilken of the US District Court in Oakland issued an order on July 31, 2024 finding that the State of California had not fully complied with her previous orders aimed at improving accommodation for blind, low vision, and deaf people in preparing for and following up on parole hearings. The order is here.
The Court’s opinion states, “Providing video recordings of sign language translations of the CRA to deaf (prisoners) who use sign language as their primary method of communication, regardless of reading test score, is a reasonable accommodation that is necessary to enable them to prepare adequately for parole proceedings.”
A San Francisco Chronicle article on the judger’s decision summarizes the Court’s opinion and goes on to quote RBGG’s Gay Grunfeld: “Many inmates with hearing difficulties are not literate in English and need sign-language assistance that the ruling should provide, said Gay Grunfeld, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the long-running lawsuit. It is ‘the only way that deaf signers can see if there were translation errors in the transcript that will allow them to challenge what happened,’ Grunfeld said.”
Accommodation for blind and low vision was also addressed in the order, According to the Chronicle, “Wilken said the state must also provide more legal assistance before parole hearings to inmates who are not legally blind but have serious visual impairments. She ordered officials to comply with her orders within 14 days.”
Judge Wilken had previously issued two important orders on March 20, 2024, ordering the California Board of Parole Hearings and California Department of Corrections to improve how they accommodate blind, low vision and deaf people.. According to RBGG’s Gay Grunfeld, lead counsel for the class, “The remedies the Court ordered will allow individuals with disabilities to seek their freedom on an equal footing as individuals without disabilities, and will help improve the rights of all people with disabilities inside our state prisons. “