A story in the Daily Journal on August 24, 2012 reported that U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken’s previous order would likely stand – mandating that the State provide counties with information about parolee disabilities to ensure parolees’ rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
RBGG’s Gay Grunfeld, who is lead attorney for the plaintiffs class of parolees with disabilities, noted: “The court indicated that it will issue an order that the state must go forward with the jail plan.” The case is Armstrong v. Brown, CV94-2307 (N.D. Cal.)
The State has appealed the case to the 9th Circuit claiming that recent legislation saying that counties have “sole” responsibility for parolees who are housed in county jails absolves them of the order. Arguments in the 9th Circuit are scheduled for September 5.
Grunfeld notes in the article that this is the latest of several challenges the State has made to the order: “It’s very disconcerting. There has been one delay after another. It’s very frustrating knowing that harm is occurring and that there are very narrow steps that the CDCR, through its own staff, can take to rectify that.”