This jail conditions case was brought in December 2011 by a deaf man who speaks American Sign Language and has little or no ability to lip read. He has very limited ability to read or write in either Spanish or English. On March 2011, he was arrested and detained by El Paso County Sheriff's deputies and taken to the Downtown Detention Facility. His repeated requests for an interpreter were ignored. Late that night, he was driven to a store and approached by a woman whom the officers described as a judge. He again requested an interpreter and again was ignored.

The following day, the plaintiff was placed in the Annex jail, where he was imprisoned with no explanation for 11 days. He was handcuffed and unable to use the old and malfunctioning TTY/TDD phone.

Plaintiff, represented by the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project and other attorneys, filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, claiming his treatment violated the Texas Human Resources Code, § 121.003(a), the Americans With Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. He sought declaratory, injunctive and monetary relief.

According to the docket, the parties stipulated to dismissal of the case after reaching a settlement on July 6, 2012. Although the settlement is not publicly available, according to reports, videophones have now been installed at the jails.

Denise Heberle - 07/24/2012


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