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Lawsuit filed for 2 deaf detainees at NC prison - San Antonio Express-News
Two deaf men being held at a federal prison in North Carolina cannot receive counseling, participate in religious services or do many other things that hearing people can do, because the government has refused to provide them with the specialized interpreters they need, their attorneys say in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed Monday against the federal Bureau of Prisons on behalf of Robert Boyd, 56, and Thomas Heyer, 46, who have been held at the prison in Butner since in 2008. Although their sentences have been completed, they continue to be held under a sexual predator law as they await a civil hearing to determine if they can re-enter society.
"The Bureau of Prisons has not seen a need to communicate with deaf people who are being held in their facilities," Philip Fornaci, director of the D.C. Prisoners' Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, said Tuesday. The committee is working on the case with the Disability Rights Project.
Heyer has been deaf since birth. Boyd lost his hearing while serving in the Marine Corps. Both use American Sign Language to communicate. They don't need a full-time interpreter, but do need someone present for events such as regularly scheduled medical appointments, classes, counseling or disciplinary meetings, Fornaci said. In some situations, the interpretation could be provided over the Internet, he said.
Heyer and Boyd are being held under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in May 2010. It allows federal officials to hold inmates indefinitely after their prison terms are complete if they're considered "sexually dangerous." The hearing to determine if they can continue be detained has not been scheduled, however, Fornaci said.
Boyd was sentenced in 2001 in Ohio, where he was convicted of receipt of material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, said Chris Burke, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons. His sentence of 188 months in prison was later modified to 125 months. Heyer was sentenced in a Tennessee court to 60 months in prison, beginning in May 2003, for possession of child porn, Burke said.
Burke declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. He said the bureau accommodates prisoners' disabilities as much as possible. Fornaci, however, said the committee is unaware of interpreters in any federal prison. Burke said he was researching that charge Tuesday, but didn't provide information by the evening.
"It's a systemic issue," Fornaci said, adding that federal prisons don't have warning lights to alert the deaf about emergencies that typically are signaled by sirens.
The lawsuit also says Heyer and Boyd have difficulty talking to friends and family because the Bureau of Prisons doesn't provide the telephone equipment needed for deaf people to communicate.
Boyd and Heyer wrote to the committee after learning of another lawsuit involving a deaf prisoner, Fornaci said. In that lawsuit, filed in January, prisoner David Bryant said the BOP violated his rights by not providing him with the help he needs to deal with his disability.
"BOP is aggressively fighting" that lawsuit, Fornaci said.
In November, one state settled a lawsuit filed by the committee involving deaf inmates. A Virginia prison will become the first major institution in the country to install a videophone so deaf inmates can communicate with family and friends, as part of the recent settlement of a lawsuit.
A group of deaf and hard-of-hearing inmates at Powhatan Correctional Center sued the state Department of Corrections in January, accusing it of discrimination.
Two deaf men being held at a federal prison in North Carolina cannot receive counseling, participate in religious services or do many other things that hearing people can do, because the government has refused to provide them with the specialized interpreters they need, their attorneys say in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed Monday against the federal Bureau of Prisons on behalf of Robert Boyd, 56, and Thomas Heyer, 46, who have been held at the prison in Butner since in 2008. Although their sentences have been completed, they continue to be held under a sexual predator law as they await a civil hearing to determine if they can re-enter society.
"The Bureau of Prisons has not seen a need to communicate with deaf people who are being held in their facilities," Philip Fornaci, director of the D.C. Prisoners' Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, said Tuesday. The committee is working on the case with the Disability Rights Project.
Heyer has been deaf since birth. Boyd lost his hearing while serving in the Marine Corps. Both use American Sign Language to communicate. They don't need a full-time interpreter, but do need someone present for events such as regularly scheduled medical appointments, classes, counseling or disciplinary meetings, Fornaci said. In some situations, the interpretation could be provided over the Internet, he said.
Heyer and Boyd are being held under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in May 2010. It allows federal officials to hold inmates indefinitely after their prison terms are complete if they're considered "sexually dangerous." The hearing to determine if they can continue be detained has not been scheduled, however, Fornaci said.
Boyd was sentenced in 2001 in Ohio, where he was convicted of receipt of material depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, said Chris Burke, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons. His sentence of 188 months in prison was later modified to 125 months. Heyer was sentenced in a Tennessee court to 60 months in prison, beginning in May 2003, for possession of child porn, Burke said.
Burke declined to comment directly on the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh. He said the bureau accommodates prisoners' disabilities as much as possible. Fornaci, however, said the committee is unaware of interpreters in any federal prison. Burke said he was researching that charge Tuesday, but didn't provide information by the evening.
"It's a systemic issue," Fornaci said, adding that federal prisons don't have warning lights to alert the deaf about emergencies that typically are signaled by sirens.
The lawsuit also says Heyer and Boyd have difficulty talking to friends and family because the Bureau of Prisons doesn't provide the telephone equipment needed for deaf people to communicate.
Boyd and Heyer wrote to the committee after learning of another lawsuit involving a deaf prisoner, Fornaci said. In that lawsuit, filed in January, prisoner David Bryant said the BOP violated his rights by not providing him with the help he needs to deal with his disability.
"BOP is aggressively fighting" that lawsuit, Fornaci said.
In November, one state settled a lawsuit filed by the committee involving deaf inmates. A Virginia prison will become the first major institution in the country to install a videophone so deaf inmates can communicate with family and friends, as part of the recent settlement of a lawsuit.
A group of deaf and hard-of-hearing inmates at Powhatan Correctional Center sued the state Department of Corrections in January, accusing it of discrimination.
