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Disabled inmates win ruling

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Times Staff Writer

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department must make significant changes in the way it houses and cares for disabled inmates in order to comply with federal standards, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court held that it was improper for the Sheriff’s Department to segregate disabled inmates at the men’s and women’s central jails, which do not offer the same recreational and educational programs available to able-bodied inmates at its newer jail facilities.

In addition, the court found that many fixtures -- toilets, sinks, showers, water fountains and telephones -- were of such height and design that they were not properly accessible to disabled inmates.

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The ruling centered on a lawsuit filed in 2001 that had sought immediate improvements in the treatment of disabled inmates in Orange County jails. In its ruling Monday, the appellate court reversed a judge’s decision that the Sheriff’s Department adequately treated the disabled.

Plaintiff’s attorney Virginia Keeny said the ruling will require dramatic and sweeping changes in the way the Sheriff’s Department houses disabled inmates. She said the treatment of inmates in County Jail facilities is particularly significant because many of them are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crimes.

Keeny said no hearing date has been set yet to address the appellate court’s decision and that she has not yet spoken to sheriff’s officials about it. “My hope would be they would call us in the next few days so we could put together an expert panel on how to address these problems,” she said.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman John McDonald said the department was reviewing the opinion and had not yet determined how it will respond.

The appellate court ruling focused particular attention on the Sheriff’s Department’s decision to house all disabled inmates at the two jails in Santa Ana, denying them access to programs available at the James A. Musick Jail near Irvine and the Theo Lacy Jail in Orange.

Among the programs offered at those facilities and not available at the Santa Ana jails are agriculture, woodworking and welding classes. Additionally, those jails offered recreational programs, including pool tables and volleyball courts, not available at the central jails. “The county may not shunt the disabled into facilities where there is no possibility of access to those programs,” the court ruled.

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Additionally, the appellate court held that the Sheriff’s Department has not provided adequate access to religious services and recreation to inmates under disciplinary segregation.

It also ruled that one of the plaintiffs in the case, a disabled inmate named Timothy Conn, can pursue damages for medical injuries he sustained suffered while in county custody. Among his claims was that he suffered repeated bladder infections because sheriff’s officials provided him an inadequate supply of catheters, forcing him to reuse them.

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stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com

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