Los Angeles Sheriff's Department to improve wheelchair access for jail inmates per agreement

11-28-2014 California:

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge has given initial approval to an agreement that requires the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to improve conditions in its jails for inmates using wheelchairs and others with impaired mobility.

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson's preliminary approval Monday of a 23-page settlement agreement with the ACLU of Southern California comes six years after attorneys filed the class-action suit alleging discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Eighth and 14th amendments.

Now former jail inmates and people who can arguably claim to be future inmates can submit objections to the ACLU through Jan. 12. Objectors may appear before the court at a March 23 hearing and be allowed to testify before the agreement is finalized.

Improvements include equal access to jail programming, more wheelchair-accessible cells and showers, and that wheelchairs are provided when needed. The agreement also creates an Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator specifically for inmate issues who will interact with people in the jails as well as their family members.

That coordinator is already in place, said Chief Dave Fender, who heads Custody Services Division Specialized Programs.

The law enforcement agency has denied the allegations in the complaint, but it is already making changes as required under the agreement.

The department is constructing more jail cells accessible to the mobility-impaired, more than doubling the number from 200 to 450, with a great number being built in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, ACLU staff attorney Jessica Price said. Grab bars are also being added throughout the jail facilities, she said.

"We're dealing with jail facilities that were built prior to the requirement of ADA-type access for individuals," Fender said. "And so how do you take a footprint, infrastructure, and adapt it? With Men's Central Jail, it's nearly impossible."
PHOTO: FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2011 photo, people walk past the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Men's Central Jail facility in Los Angeles. A federal judge has given initial approval to an agreement that requires the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to improve conditions in its jails for inmates using wheelchairs and others with mobility impairments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2011 photo, people walk past the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Men's Central Jail facility in Los Angeles. A federal judge has given initial approval to an agreement that requires the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to improve conditions in its jails for inmates using wheelchairs and others with mobility impairments. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The agreement also provides for a new complaint process through the chief physician in the jails so that if any deputy requires an inmate to get out of their wheelchair, there is the option of a secondary review to ensure medical issues are part of the decision, Price said.

The complaint detailed stories of inmates who were held in the inmate-reception center for three days with no access to a wheelchair-accessible bathroom. Inmates soiled themselves and had to wait a long time to get a change of clothes. Inmates who wanted to shower in the jails often couldn't access it with their wheelchairs and needed other inmates to carry them in, Price said.

"If you needed a walker or crutches or cane and you went to county jail, you were screwed," Price said.

Price said that because there weren't enough wheelchairs, inmates were ordered out of theirs to provide it to others. Those who didn't do so were sent to "the hole," or solitary confinement. And wheelchairs that were in use often didn't have functional brakes or weren't well maintained, she said.

The agreement requires the department to maintain the wheelchairs and make sure they all have brakes.

Los Angeles County has examined replacing the 50-year-old Men's Central Jail with a new facility. It's expecting a more detailed report on the cost — estimated at up to $2 billion — in March, Fender said.

"It would be a facility that was designed to better treat and provide programming space for the mentally ill, and to also provide a better facility for" mobility-impaired people, he said. ..Source.. by TAMI ABDOLLAH

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Regulators issue numerous citations against residential care home for people with disabilities

11-28-2014 Washington:

SPOKANE, Washington — Federal regulators have cited a state-run home for people with disabilities for a long list of violations, including strapping residents to chairs in front of TVs and forcing them to face a wall for hours at a time.

It was the second time in less than a year that a surprise inspection led to citations at Lakeland Village Nursing Facility in Spokane County.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services logged 54 pages of violations during the recent visit. An inspection last November resulted in more than 40,000 alleged violations.

In addition, the state Residential Care Services agency cited the facility several times this year, saying one resident was hospitalized because a nurse gave the wrong drug to the wrong person, and another patient sustained chemical burns from drinking detergent.

Lakeland Village, located west of Spokane in Medical Lake, responded to each citation with a plan of correction that included firing the nurse who gave the wrong drugs, locking up toxic chemicals and adding activities for residents.

Care at Lakeland Village prompted about a dozen protesters to stand along a road on Tuesday in front of the Developmental Disabilities Administration office in Spokane to draw attention to the conditions.

They held signs that said: "Human Beings Deserve More" and "40,000 violations and counting."

John Memus, organizer of the gathering, said the facility should be closed.

"I don't think the DDA is on the ball at all. I think it's beyond repair," Memus said as cars drove by beeping their horns.

David Carlson, director of the advocacy group Disability Rights Washington, also called for the closure of the state-run facility.

"Lakeland Village residents deserve so much more than the inadequate care," he said.

John Wiley, spokesman for the state Department of Social and Health Services, said it places the highest value on the care, comfort and safety of people at its residential centers.

The agency responded promptly and diligently to fix the problems related to nursing care and quality of life of residents that were outlined in the November 2013 report and also has addressed the federal findings detailed in an October 2014 survey, Wiley said.

In response to the latest federal report, the agency fired the nursing facility administrator and named an interim administrator during recruitment for the position, he said.

The Lakeland Village website says it's a 24-hour facility that provides all facets of training, education and health care for about 250 individuals with developmental disabilities.

It says it has an extensive day program "that involves sensory integrative and interactive techniques such as touch, pressure, massage, aromatherapy, relaxation, music, environmental controls, micro technology, audio/visual sensory stimulating activities, and movement."

However, federal inspectors who visited the facility in September referred to repeated examples of warehousing residents and ignoring their needs.

Residents were routinely found unattended "sitting with unreleasable seatbelts on the chairs facing the television," the report said.

One staff member dropped a basket of toys near one resident, but it was out of her reach and the staff member left. Another resident was strapped to a chair in front of a TV for hours holding only a small toy football, the report said. ..Source.. by MARTHA BELLISLE

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Adult Maine residents with disabilities to gain Medicaid services with lawsuit settlement

11-28-2014 Maine:

AUGUSTA, Maine — Adults in Maine with autism and intellectual disabilities will receive housing and other support services through the state's Medicaid program under a class-action lawsuit settlement.

The settlement, completed Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court, was welcomed by Gerald Petruccelli, the plaintiffs' attorney.

"The best of it was that we worked collaboratively with the Department of Health and Human Services and the attorney general's office before things got too far down the legal path," he told the Portland Press Herald.

He told the paper (http://bit.ly/1xRNOTx ) as many as 1,000 people could benefit from the agreement. The suit filed in 2013 said some people who sought MaineCare services had been on waiting lists for years.

The Department of Health and Human Services said in response that there was not enough money to cover those services.

Eighteen people sued, but the settlement could benefit as many as 1,000 people who are on waiting lists for MaineCare services including housing vouchers and other support. The state's share of the cost of services to the people affected by the settlement is expected to be about $7 million.

DHHS spokesman David Sorensen told the paper he was aware of the settlement, but that the department would have no comment at this time.

Petruccelli said that while Gov. Paul LePage's administration agreed to the settlement, there were no specifics on how the money would be generated or shifted to pay for it.

Rep. Richard Farnsworth, the Portland Democrat who chairs the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, said he thinks there is enough flexibility in the MaineCare budget to meet the settlement terms. ..Source.. by Portland Press Herald

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Mom fights developmentally disabled son's 'sexual predator' label

6-5-2010 Arizaona:

Every weekend this month, Jo Stack will be on a plane en route to Greeley.

The Apache Junction, Ariz., resident hasn't even added up her travel bill as her son, Larry Flippo, sits in a Weld County Jail cell awaiting his fate for violating the terms of his probation — for no other reason than a treatment provider won't sign on to treat him.

Now, in protest, every Monday and Tuesday, Stack will be at the Weld County Courthouse plaza with signs and fliers, wearing her T-shirt that says, “My son is not a sexually violent predator.”

Flippo, 38, has been convicted twice of raping a Denver woman in June 2001. Flippo, who is developmentally disabled, was living on his own for the first time when he arranged for the woman to visit his Greeley apartment for a week. The first night she was there, however, she said he raped her. His mother said Flippo thought they were going to live happily ever after.

His first conviction in 2002 resulted in an eight-year prison sentence; that was overturned in 2005 because his first jury wasn't allowed to learn of his developmental disabilities, which include emotional and intellectual delays. He was convicted at a second trial in November 2009, but this time sentenced to 10 years to life on probation under the condition he be under 24/7 supervision and receive sex offender treatment.

This time, Flippo was labeled a sexually violent predator, a distinction he was not given after his first conviction. Such a label has essentially made it impossible to find a treatment provider to accept him, which advocates say is more about fear than anything else. Without a provider, he's technically violating the terms of his probation and could be returned to prison.

Stack sat through both trials, saying little. But this time, she's speaking out as she protests the way her son has been treated by the judge and jury and the Weld County Probation Department. She has alleged judge misconduct, jury disinterest and collusion within the system to put her son back in prison rather than deal with his treatment issues.

“In my opinion, they carefully orchestrated this knowing he was going to go back to prison,” Stack said.

Larry McDermott, executive director of The Arc of Weld County, which advocates for people with developmental disabilities, said though he feels Flippo must be held accountable for his actions, he thinks the system is not adequately addressing his case and a growing number of others.

“It's like special ed in school,” McDermott said. “I think our folks can learn, but they need special accommodations. I'm not saying someone convicted of crime should not have consequences, but how those consequences are administered needs to be addressed.”

Weld District Court Judge Gilbert Gutierrez would not comment about the case. Kevin Nelan, chief probation officer for Weld County, likewise would not comment about Flippo's case, though he did say that the probation department was not involved in labeling him a sexually violent predator. ..Source.. Sharon Dunn

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OH- Elderly sex offender poses dilemma

All of the federal compliance requirements of the Americans w/disability Act are ignored by this county's jail. Hummmmm..... Worse yet is, the jail's medical staff concluded "he was in a wheelchair and unable to take care of himself," anyone have any idea why he doesn't report to the Probation Officer? Seems that the law doesn't allow for physical disabilities as a defense.

4-17-2009 Ohio:

Hamilton County officials are unsure what to do with an elderly sex offender confined to a wheelchair who refused to report to the probation office and was rejected at the jail.

Gerald Ball, 79, of North College Hill, was supposed to appear Thursday before Common Pleas Judge Steve Martin to explain why he refuses to report to the Justice Center on a probation violation or meet with his probation officer.

Ball wasn't there - because the Sheriff's office promised Ball it would take him to court but forgot to pick him up Thursday.

"We dropped the ball," Sheriff's spokesman Steve Barnett said.

That didn't matter, Ball's attorney, Dan Burke Jr., said, because the jail won't take him anyway.

The issue is compounded by the defiant attitude Ball has taken since his 2001 arrest.

(eAdvocate Post)


Ball was convicted of showing minors pornography and sex toys when they visited his North College Hill home and of having some of them expose their genitals as he videotaped them.

He was convicted on crimes that could have sent him to prison for more than 20 years, but he served less than six months in the Justice Center and was placed on parole.

In December 2008, Ball violated that probation by not reporting to his probation officer.

When he refused three other orders in March to report to the probation office, he was arrested and taken to jail.

But the jail's medical staff refused to allow Ball to be admitted because he was in poor medical health and unable to take care of himself physically.

They released him but told him to appear Thursday before Martin.

But when he does show up in court, what will authorities do with Ball?

"I don't know how you get him arrested and if they do, will they take him?" Burke asked.

The jail won't take him because of medical issues and jail overcrowding.

"We can't meet his needs and we are packed," Barnett said.

Other programs might not take him, either. Some don't take sex offenders. Some won't take those physically unable to care for themselves.

"If they can't house him, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," the judge said. ..News Source.. by Kimball Perry

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Disabilities Law Covers Sex Disorders, D.C. Circuit Rules

7-29-2008 National:

Twice this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit expanded the sweep of a "major life activity" under the nation's anti-discrimination law for federal employees.

First, the court said sleep qualified. Now sex is on the list.

That is, disabilities that promote sleeplessness or the inability to have sex are covered by the 1973 Rehabilitation Act the court ruled.

Employment lawyers say the rulings open the door for a host of new discrimination claims and add ballast to cases that hinge on plaintiffs' ability to prove that their disabilities substantially interferes with their everyday lives.

"Employers will have to view the term 'disability' much more broadly," says Victoria Zellers, a partner in Cozen O'Connor's Philadelphia office.

Zellers says many of the cases brought under the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects private employees, wash out on summary judgment because employees fail to clear the first hurdle: proving they are disabled.

In some circuits, the statute is construed to cover those who can't care for themselves, perform manual tasks, walk, see, hear, speak, breathe, learn or work.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 10 percent of American adults suffer from a sleep disorder, and at least twice as many suffer from sexual dysfunction, whether physical or psychological.

"This could mean a lot more ADA cases go to trial," Zellers says.

In a July 18 opinion, Judge David Tatel, quoting Genesis, pronounced sex a "significant human activity, one our species has been engaging in at least since the biblical injunction to 'be fruitful and multiply.'"

In stating the obvious, the appeals court became the second in the country to answer a question the Supreme Court circumvented a decade ago in Bragdon v. Abbott in which the majority found that reproduction -- the end, but not the means -- rated as a major life activity.

Tatel, writing again for the majority in a July 1 opinion, aligned the court with at least three other circuits on the issue of sleep.

"Sleeping is unquestionably a significant activity -- human beings spend roughly a third of their lives doing it," Tatel wrote in Desmond v. Mukasey. "And it is certainly important."

The court, reversing circuit precedent, also found that plaintiffs are not required to show that their sleep disorders affect their waking activities, in order to bring a discrimination claim. The court's drift toward a broader definition of disability comes as Congress is considering legislation that would aggressively expand coverage for employees bringing claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which protects private employees from discrimination based on disability.

The legislation would junk four Supreme Court decisions that lawmakers say ignored Congress' intent when it passed the Americans with Disabilities Act 18 years ago, lessening the burden on claimants to show how their disabilities affect them. The House passed the ADA Amendment Act in June, by a vote of 401-17. The Senate had its markup earlier this month.

CLEARANCE DENIED

The D.C. Circuit's July 18th ruling was a victory for Kathy Adams, a lawyer in Piedmont, S.C., who sued the State Department for discrimination in 2005, after she was refused clearance to serve in the Foreign Service.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2003, soon after receiving notice that she had passed her written and oral examinations. She underwent a mastectomy, and two months later, her fallopian tubes and ovaries were removed. By October 2003, when she received a letter assuring her of an appointment to the Foreign Service, Adams was cancer-free.

When Adams informed the State Department of her bout with cancer, she was denied medical clearance, despite her doctors' assurances that she was healthy.

The district court dismissed her claim last year, reasoning that the cancer did not qualify as a disability because it wasn't long-term or permanent.

Significantly, the D.C. Circuit found that her history with cancer was enough, provided she could show it continued to limit a major life activity.

Adams, in a declaration, said the experience had "crippled indefinitely and perhaps permanently" her ability to enter into romantic relationships.

"Our client just wept when we read the [D.C. Circuit] decision to her," says Adams' lawyer, David Shapiro, of Swick & Shapiro. "Here's a person who came to the conclusion she wanted to serve the country, she's well qualified to do so, and she's denied because she had cancer?"

He says Adams wants to be hired into the Foreign Service with a salary equivalent to the experience she would have accumulated had she been cleared in 2003.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, which handled the case, says the decision is under review.

Shapiro says he was less impressed with the panel's pronouncement on sex than its finding that her history of cancer withstood the statute's requirement that the claimant show a "record" of impairment.

"They discriminated against her based on a history -- and this is exactly what the statute is supposed to guard against," Shapiro says.

Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, in her dissent, said she would not have reached the question of whether sex qualifies as a major life activity because Adams failed to show that her impairment had limited her before the State Department rescinded the offer. ..News Source.. by Joe Palazzolo, Legal Times

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The Americans with Disabilities Act -and- Emergency Shelters

Separate registered sex offenders from the public during an emergency, is the latest cry! Lawmakers seem to be ready to do that in some places:

Sex Offenders Not Welcome

In a move that prompted one legislator to warn that it could give the public a false sense of security, the county Legislature recently passed a bill stating that sex offenders are not welcome in general emergency shelters. The legislation passed by a vote of 17-0, with one abstention.

"I don't want anyone to misconstrue my intent," said Alden, who abstained from the vote. "If we can't confine sexual predators for life, let's track them for life."

The resolution, introduced by Legislator Kate Browning (WF-Shirley), would require registered sex offenders, when entering an emergency shelter, to notify a shelter manager, a shelter employee, or a shelter volunteer of their sex offender status. To make sure they still have a place to go, there would be a separate facility established for sexual predators.

"You're going to ask someone in the middle of a hurricane? I don't think it's going to happen," Alden said. "I'm 1,000 percent sure he ain't going to volunteer the information."

"I'm wondering how well this can be implemented," Romaine agreed, "in that it requires them to say, 'I'm a sex offender.'"

Upon a sex offender's self-identification, the county Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services would be notified, and either the individual would be moved to a designated shelter, or assigned a law enforcement officer if they cannot be moved.

"There will be something posted that notifies them," Browning explained. "If they can't leave, we're not saying they can't have shelter, but law enforcement will keep an eye on them."

It is expected that County Executive Steve Levy will sign the legislation. "Although we feel it is redundant to provisions we already have in place to screen out sex offenders at shelter locations, the measure is like chicken soup - it couldn't hurt, and the county executive will sign it after a public hearing," said Mark Smith, a spokesperson for Levy.

Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, noted that during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, 30% of acts of alleged sexual predation took place in shelters, and 63% of the victims were targeted by acquaintances at a shelter. However, she said that she supported the bill only after Browning removed a plan calling on emergency staff to do a background check on everyone coming into a shelter. "Keeping track of over 800 offenders is the responsibility of law enforcement," Ahearn said. No Source for these statistics! Further, we could not find a single news story of a sex offense committed by a former sex offender in a shelter during these storms. Is this another factoid?

The measure also passed despite concerns raised over the constitutionality of limiting access to general emergency shelters, and assertions by Barraga that piecemeal legislation restricting registered sex offenders risks having all such laws thrown out in court. "And how do you implement this?" Barraga asked. "People are in a state of panic, do you think they're going to identify themselves? I don't think it is well thought out at all."

I wonder if lawmakers have considered what the requirements are for Emergency Shelters under the Americans with Disability Act?


It would be impossible to construct such a shelter -immediately- during an emergency, so the taxpayers will have to shell out mucho money for such shelters.

Oh yes, the alternate suggested is a police officer for each registered sex offender to monitor them during the emergency. WOW, do you think police should be worrying about RSOs rather than protecting the general public during an emergency? Again, the public will have to shell out a ton of money for such officers.

Well, its the law folks!

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