In July 2013, the Barton County Jail in Great Bend, Kansas, incarcerated an inmate who has a diagnosis of post-polio syndrome, one of the symptoms of which is increased muscular weakness. In order to stand and walk without falling, the inmate must wear a leg brace, but one of the leg braces the inmate brought with her to the jail tore in the fall of 2013.
Although a hospital nurse tried to fix the tear with duct tape, the brace no longer provided the inmate with adequate support and stability after it tore. In fact, from October 2013 through mid-April 2014, the inmate fell several times in the jail, often in the shower, and at least three of those falls were so severe that the jail transported the inmate to the emergency room where X-rays and CT scans were obtained. Although the inmate had made numerous requests for reasonable accommodations including a new brace, a wheelchair, a shower chair, and a non-slip shower mat, the jail simply ignored the inmate’s requests.
In mid-March 2014, the ACLU Foundation of Kansas received from the inmate a letter asking for help with this problem. The ACLU immediately opened and investigation.
On April 18, 2014, ACLU Legal Director Bonney sent a demand letter to Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir regarding the jail’s failure to provide reasonable accommodations for the inmate’s disabilities. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 require jails to provide reasonable accommodations for inmates who have disabilities. As immediate relief, the ACLU’s letter demanded that the jail order new braces for the inmate and provide her with a shower chair, a non-slip shower mat, and a wheelchair. Just a couple of days later, the jail provided the inmate with a shower chair, non-slip shower mat, and wheelchair. Although the jailer also gave the inmate a tongue lashing for bringing an outside entity into the dispute, the jailer later apologized to the inmate for that tongue lashing. On April 29, 2014, the Sheriff’s Department took the inmate to Hays, Kansas, to order new leg braces, which she should receive in May.
Although the Sheriff never formally responded to the ACLU’s demand letter, the ACLU is grateful that the jail promptly provided the inmate with the long overdue reasonable accommodations to which she was entitled under federal disability laws.
The ACLU’s Legal Department worked with Wichita disability rights and personal injury lawyer David P. Calvert to investigate the inmate’s case. Mr. Calvert’s help was essential to the ACLU’s effective advocacy on this issue. He visited the inmate in the jail where he interviewed her and obtained relevant documents and took photographs of the torn brace. He also offered outstanding suggestions for improving the demand letter. The ACLU is indebted to David Calvert for his outstanding assistance in this matter.