Prisons not required to build for disabled

San Francisco

The state prison system does not have to build
wheelchair ramps and other facilities for the disabled
in four Southern California prisons, a federal appeals
court ruled.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday
overturned a federal judge's January 1999 order
requiring the Corrections Department to accommodate
the disabled at prisons in the area where most
inmates' families lived.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken had ruled in 1996
that the department was violating the Americans with
Disabilities Act by failing to provide equal access to
the disabled in prison facilities and programs.

The department, which argued initially that it wasn't
covered by the ADA, responded to Wilken's ruling with
a plan to transfer about 1,000 inmates to 10 prisons
that have cells, toilets and other facilities with
wheelchair access. Only one of the prisons, the
California Institution for Men in Chino, San
Bernardino County, is in Southern California; the
others are in Central and Northern California.

Tuesday, the appeals court said Wilken had gone too
far in her ruling. Under federal law, prison officials
have the right to make decisions related to prisons'
reasonable functions, as well as and unusual leeway to
avoid judicial scrutiny on such issues.

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Darrell Paulsen, Founder/CEO
Paulsen & Company, Inc.  Email us : MAILTO:[log in to unmask]
804 4th Street So.
South St. Paul, Minnesota 55075
(651) 455-3013 TDD (651) 554-3200

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