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U.S. DOJ says Delaware can't avoid responsibilities to incarcerated students with disabilities

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest last Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that claims Delaware fails to provide special education services to incarcerated students.

The DOJ’s statement says state agencies can’t avoid their responsibilities to these students, and it rejects the state’s effort to dismiss the suit.

Students with disabilities in adult correctional facilities “do not forfeit their right to a free appropriate public education,” the statement reads.

The suit alleges Delaware’s Department of Education and its Adult and Prison Education Resources Workgroup violated state and federal laws for years by not providing adequate resources to incarcerated students ages 18 to 22 with disabilities.

The Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. and public interest law firm Terris, Pravlik & Millian, LLP filed the lawsuit in May.

TPM attorney Todd Gluckman said this treatment is a result of incarcerated students being at the bottom of everyone's priority lists.

“This comes from these students not having a lot of political capital,” Gluckman said. “There's federal laws requiring these prisons to act in particular ways, and the prison is focused on being a prison, not educating students.”

“Given that these students are incarcerated, they don’t have a voice to address their concerns,” CLASI project director for the Disability Law Program Marissa Band said.

CLASI and TPM describe examples of the violations, including one student who studied in a 3-by-3 foot plexiglass box for an hour or less each schoolday.

Gluckman said litigation can last years, so they are seeking a preliminary injunction to give students adequate resources as the case progresses.

“These aren't things that can be caught up on,” Gluckman said. “Students need the education now.”

Oral arguments on CLASI’s motion for preliminary injunction are scheduled for September 19.

With degrees in journalism and women’s and gender studies, Abigail Lee aims for her work to be informed and inspired by both.

She is especially interested in rural journalism and social justice stories, which came from her time with NPR-affiliate KBIA at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.

She speaks English and Russian fluently, some French, and very little Spanish (for now!)
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