Deaf in Prison: The Courts' Failure to Remedy ADA Violations in Prisons

Authors

• Ruby Grossman, University of Washington School of Law

Abstract

The carceral system is one of the many institutions that fails to adequately accommodate individuals with disabilities. D/deaf individuals specifically face a severe lack of resources and accommodations, pervasive mistreatment, and inadequate services while incarcerated. While the Supreme Court has recognized that individuals necessarily do not retain all their constitutional rights while incarcerated, there are constitutional rights and statutory protections with which prisons are required to comply. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one such statute. When it comes to D/deaf incarcerated individuals, the ADA requires that prisons provide reasonable accommodations so those individuals are not deprived of programs, services, and necessities. Prisons often fail to meet this mandate, and courts similarly fall short of providing meaningful remedies for D/deaf plaintiffs.

The Supreme Court developed the Turner standard to review claims that prisons violated incarcerated individuals’ constitutional rights. Many courts apply the deferential Turner standard to ADA claims, despite Congress’s intent to take ADA claims out of the realm of Turner deference. This has led to significant deprivations for D/deaf incarcerated individuals with virtually no remedial course of action. This Comment is the first to address the impact of the Turner standard on ADA claims brought by D/deaf individuals, arguing that the ADA demands a higher level of judicial scrutiny for claims of prison ADA violations.

First Page

719

Recommended Citation

Ruby Grossman, Comment, Deaf in Prison: The Courts' Failure to Remedy ADA Violations in Prisons, 101 Wash. L. Rev. 719 (2026).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol101/iss2/11