DeafCAN! provides the only dedicated service in all of Pennsylvania to Deaf/Hard of Hearing individuals in the criminal justice system.
DeafCAN! has been coordinating visits, literacy and decision-making classes, at maximum security Phoenix CSI (formerly Graterford State Prison) for the last 14 years with our advocacy roots at other State and local jails extending back to 1994. SCI (State Correctional Institute) Phoenix has been designated as the State prison in the Eastern part of PA to house Deaf inmates, with Camphill, Albion, and Muncy (for women), as the other three, although D/HH inmates can and are placed anywhere in PA. We reach out to find those inmates wherever they are, visit, advocate, and work to support them throughout PA. Our goal is to help them feel less isolated and have equivalent access to all programs and services, as required by law. However, local, state, and federal prisons, as well as forensic hospitals, provide extremely limited access, limited or NO interpreting or captioning, and rarely have video or caption phones. They also rarely do essential communications assessments by qualified experts to clarify what these individuals need, and even when they do, they seldom follow their own recommendations.
More than 50 years after the 1973 Rehab Act, and more than 30 years after the passage of ADA, prisons remain one of the last bastions of the denial of these critical civil rights for those with disabilities. Without someone on the outside advocating, D/HH people remain ignored and even more isolated. And, besides a few family and friends, D/HH inmates almost never get signing volunteers who visit to provide special support or classes.
Attached is our “Model of Accommodations” with what we know is needed in order to have truly equivalent access. Although each institution and system have their own “ADA Coordinators” responsible to ‘ensure’ equitable access for all those with disabilities, the position is often just a title with little expertise, authority, or initiative. Instead, they often serve simply to cover a ‘required’ position and present a false face of accessibility and care.
The plight for those leaving prison is equally horrific. Probation and parole services, as well as ‘halfway houses’ also rarely, if ever, provide any of the same basic accommodations, like interpreters or captioning. Without such, D/HH returning citizens are at much greater risk of not understanding their guidelines, warnings, etc., so can more easily overstep a boundary and be returned to prison.
Attached are several articles and a link to a recent settlement in Georgia that was led by the first Deaf lawyer with the ACLU, West Recendes:
“The Horror of Being Deaf and in Prison” by McCay Vemon
“Injustice: Mistreatment of Deaf in Prison” by Frances Vhay
“Covid-19 and the Deaf Community at San Quintin” by Timothy Hicks
Harris v. Georgia Department of Corrections Click on this link
Testimonial
“I served time in a PA State Prison and I found it to be a horrific experience with the system turning down our requests for phones, interpreters, and communication access for almost all programs and services. But, we were motivated and we felt supported when DeafCAN! staff not only visited us regularly, but also advocated along with us. But not only that, DeafCAN sent us newsletters to keep us connected with the deaf community. Being in prison is terrible, but being Deaf in prison is even worse which is more of double isolation. I thank DeafCAN! for all their support while I was in prison and post incarceration.”
Anonymous former Deaf inmate in PA