Parole Panel Mistreats Disabled, Judge Rules

The state parole board violates the rights of disabled prisoners and parolees “as a matter of routine practice” and must make its hearings and facilities accessible, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

After hearing testimony from disabled convicts last spring, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken found that the Board of Prison Terms was doing little or nothing to give them access to hearings, help them understand the proceedings and allow them a fair chance to defend themselves.

“Some prisoners who use wheelchairs have had to crawl up stairs to get to their hearings,” Wilken wrote. “Mentally retarded prisoners who cannot even spell their names have waived their right to a hearing and spent years in prison without the benefit of any assistance. A blind witness was denied access to information at his hearings because he could not see the documents.”

She said she was “shocked to find that these things occurred with such frequency” and even more shocked by “the level of indifference to the basic rights of prisoners with these disabilities that the [board] exhibited.”

The board, appointed by the governor, holds about 35,000 hearings a year.

Wilken ordered the board to survey its hearing rooms within 90 days, determine which ones are not fully accessible to the disabled and prepare accommodations.

The board must print its forms in simple English, make them available in large print and Braille, provide sign language interpreters and other aids, and refrain from restraining the hands and arms of hearing-impaired inmates, Wilken said.

The ruling means “they’ll finally be able to understand the proceedings that might deprive them of freedom,” said attorney Sara Norman of the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit firm that represented prisoners and parolees in the case.

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer’s office has not yet reviewed the ruling, an official said.