29 January 2014
Commissioner Brian Owens
Georgia Department of Corrections
300 Patrol Road
Forsyth, GA
31029
Dear Commissioner Owens,
This letter calls upon you, Commissioner Owens, to take
action in regards to the discriminatory practices that are taking place under
the Georgia Department of Corrections with regards to Deaf and Hard of Hearing
inmates. In addition, we believe
you are denying one particular Deaf prisoner, Ricardo L. Harris the right to a
speedy trial.
Having one’s case brought to trial in an expedient manner is
a constitutional guarantee and yet Mr. Harris has been imprisoned for over a
year. The Americans with Disability Act title II covers the judicial system and
prison facilities. Reasonable accommodations to ensure effective
communication are a right that Deaf and Hard of Hearing inmates in Georgia been
denied. These inmates have limited or no interaction with other prisoners
and guards. They lack access to
information and programs within the prisons. Your prisons do not provide avenues for these individuals to
communicate with their families. Such unequal treatment results in your
effectively sentencing these inmates to solidarity confinement.
This also means that the Georgia Department of Corrections
is guilty of audism. Audism is
attitudes and practices based on the assumption that behaving in the ways of
those who speak and hear is desired and best. It produces a system of
privilege, thus resulting in stigma, bias, discrimination, and prejudice—in
overt or covert ways—against Deaf culture, American Sign Language, and Deaf
people of all walks of life.
We, Audism Free America (AFA), are a grassroots advocacy
network. AFA, the National Black
Deaf Advocates (NBDA), Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf
(HEARD), other members of the national Deaf community and Hearing allies are
aware of the injustices that are being experienced by Deaf and Hard of Hearing
inmates in the Georgia Department of Corrections. Such injustices are NOT acceptable.
We urge you, Commissioner Owens to be accountable for these
inmates and their treatment. We
urge you to follow your Department of Corrections core value of integrity
-–doing what is right legally and morally.
Let Freedom Roll,
Karen Christie,
Patti Durr and Ruthie Jordan
on behalf of Audism Free
America
