By Tony Briscoe
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — A federal judge ruled that a lawsuit accusing a former acting director of the Illinois Department of Corrections of failing to provide accommodations to deaf and hard-of-hearing prisoners can go to trial as a class-action suit.
Northern District of Illinois Judge Marvin Aspen granted class-action status to the 2011 lawsuit, which alleges Salvador Godinez violated the civil rights of hearing-impaired prisoners by failing to provide them with American Sign Language interpreters and other alternative forms of communication. Without that assistance, the suit says, they are endangered and deprived of a range of accommodations including: access to religious services, health care, educational programs, telephones, televisions, library services, disciplinary proceedings and grievances.
The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief “to remedy past violations of the laws ... and to prevent future violations.”
In Aspen’s ruling Thursday, he noted “significant proof of the systemic failures alleged.”
A Department of Corrections spokeswoman declined comment on the case.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 11 Department of Corrections prisoners in May 2011 by Chicago-based law firm Winston & Strawn; Equip for Equality and Uptown People’s Law Center, two Illinois nonprofit legal advocacy organizations; and the National Association of the Deaf.
Aspen limited plaintiffs to current or future Department of Corrections prisoners who notified the department in writing that they are deaf or hard of hearing, according to the court ruling. These inmates must also require interpreters or auxiliary aids or services to effectively communicate.
Barry Taylor, vice president of civil rights and systemic litigation for Equip for Equality, said the ruling will allow it to represent more than 100 Department of Corrections prisoners. Nine of the original plaintiffs remain on the suit. Since the initial filing, one plaintiff died of a burst appendix and another has been released, Taylor said.
“We are pleased that the judge has granted class-action status to our case so that we can address the widespread discrimination that deaf and hard-of-hearing prisoners face on a daily basis in Illinois prisons,” Taylor said in a statement Monday. “The IDOC’s failures have forced deaf and hard-of-hearing prisoners to serve their time largely isolated from, and unable to effectively communicate with, other human beings.”
Though Godinez was named in the lawsuit, the group of litigants hopes to modify the suit to name current acting Director John Baldwin, who was appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, in August, Taylor said.