By Aimee Green
The Oregonian
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Corrections has agreed to pay $150,000 to a deaf inmate who was denied an American Sign Language interpreter and given menial jobs such as cleaning toilets.
Dennis Steinman, a Portland attorney for Merle Baldridge, described the lawsuit as a landmark disability discrimination case that forces the prison system to improve conditions for all inmates with disabilities by following the Americans with Disabilities Act and Oregon law.
Specifically, under terms of the settlement, state prisons will provide deaf inmates with sign-language interpreters for orientation, medical exams, counseling and other daily interactions of life.
Thursday, the prison system also transferred another deaf inmate to the same prison where Baldridge, the plaintiff, resides. That will allow the two the same social interaction that other inmates get -- a crucial part of their rehabilitation, Steinman said Wednesday.
Steinman estimated Oregon has about 20 to 25 deaf inmates. Other states, such as Washington, house those inmates in the same facility so they can interact with each other and so the prison system can better provide “reasonable accomodation” for their needs.
A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections contacted Wednesday wasn’t familiar with the case so couldn’t comment.
Baldridge, 42, filed his suit in April 2012 seeking $600,000. He said he’d repeatedly been denied an interpreter to communicate with doctors or attend religious services, Alcoholics Anonymous or a GED program at the Columbia River Correctional Institution in Northeast Portland.
The suit also claimed Baldridge had been denied desirable prison jobs because DOC had made good oral communication skills a requirement for those jobs. That left him cleaning toilets and doing other menial work.
Among some of the other challenges that Baldridge encountered: He was disciplined for not returning inside when correctional officers ordered inmates in from a field. Baldridge didn’t hear their commands, Steinman said.
Baldridge started serving a prison sentence in April 2011 for two Clackamas County convictions for attempted first-degree sexual abuse of his former girlfriend’s daughter, who was younger than 14 years old. His earliest release date is March 2015.
According to the suit, the prison system had asked another inmate, who knew little sign language, to translate for Baldridge during his prison orientation, an intake interview and medical and dental appointments. The suit claimed that the inmate did a terrible job of interpreting, or Baldridge refused the inmate’s assistance because he didn’t want the inmate knowing confidential information.
Baldridge’s complaint also faulted the prison system for charging hearing-impaired inmates $219 for 13-inch TVs, when other inmates pay $159 for 8-inch TVs. The suit stated that the smaller, less expensive TVs aren’t an option for hearing-impaired inmates because they are too small for closed captioning. Since the suit was filed, DOC has changed its inventory to only offer the larger TVs, so all inmates now pay the same price.
“This case changes how Oregon prisons work with deaf prisoners so that they are integrated into the general prison population, rather than being further isolated,” Steinman said in a news release. “State agencies and departments should be leading by example. This settlement is just the beginning of sustainable and meaningful change for not just one deaf inmate, but all deaf and disabled inmates across the state.”