LA County sued over treatment of inmates with disabilities
May 30th, 2008Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times:
Civil and disability rights attorneys Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against Los Angeles County alleging that “egregious” jail conditions amounted to illegal discrimination against people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sheriff Lee Baca said the lawsuit was “unreasonable and unfair.”
The lawsuit alleges people with disabilities face inhumane treatment and are illegally discriminated against because the jail system routinely fails to accommodate their basic needs.
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.
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on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 8:17 am and is filed under ADA, NOT2BEMISSED, abuse, civil rights, criminal justice, disabilities, discrimination, human rights, law, law enforcement, wheelchair.
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