Las Vegas jail accused of discriminating against deaf inmates in federal suit

A man incarcerated at the Clark County Detention Center has sued Las Vegas police for their treatment of him and other deaf inmates, alleging that the jail discriminated against him and failed to provide him with effective means of communication.

Christopher Jones, whose legal representation includes the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada and the National Association of the Deaf, filed the federal lawsuit on Thursday against the Metropolitan Police Department, which operates the county jail.

The lawsuit includes allegations that the jail was deliberately indifferent to Jones’ medical needs and discriminated against him in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“This lawsuit is to drag the Clark County Detention Center kicking and screaming into the modern era, and to provide the services it is required to do so for some of the most vulnerable people incarcerated in its facility,” said ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Christopher Peterson.

Metro is being accused of failing to provide sign language interpreters, videophones or modifications to programs to accommodate deaf inmates, according to the lawsuit. The ACLU of Nevada filed a similar complaint with the Department of Justice in January 2022, requesting an investigation into the jail’s treatment of deaf inmates.

The Metropolitan Police Department declined to comment on Thursday because of the pending litigation.

Peterson said that Jones faced discriminatory treatment and that his time incarcerated at the jail for about three years was more difficult for him because he was deaf.

Jones was only able to communicate with staff and other inmates through written notes, he missed important verbal announcements, including information about COVID-19 during the height of the pandemic, and was unable to participate in classes or religious services because he did not have an interpreter, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit calls for Jones to receive damages and for a judge to order Metro to comply with its obligations and “implement appropriate remedial measures at CCDC.”

The jail uses teletypewriters for hard-of-hearing inmates to make phone calls, which requires the inmates to type out messages for an operator to relay the information to the caller on the other end of the line. Peterson said that the technology is outdated and is insufficient for prisoners who only have 15 minutes per phone call to speak with their loved ones or attorneys.

Jones was only offered use of a teletypewriter for phone calls after he was incarcerated for eight months, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit calls for the jail to use videophones, so that inmates can speak to people using sign language. Peterson said videophone technology is preferred by the deaf community and is already in use in other jails and prisons across the country.

Courts in other states have also ordered facilities to provide proper accommodations to deaf and hard-of-hearing inmates, he said.

“We are a major metropolitan area,” Peterson said. “And we are a place that has an obligation to meet the modern standards of decency towards the people that are incarcerated in our facilities. We have the financial resources to take care of those people, and we have the intelligence to know what our obligations are, and yet we fail to meet them.”

The lawsuit also alleges that when Jones attempted to file a complaint, he was disciplined and placed in solitary confinement for not using the proper grievance process, although no staff members at the jail effectively communicated to Jones what the proper grievance process was.

Multiple times when Jones was in disciplinary housing, according to the lawsuit, he was not allowed to have writing utensils, which prevented him from communicating with other inmates or staff. In another instance, Jones was transferred to solitary confinement for refusing a direct order from a staff member to return to his bunk, although he did not understand the order until someone else communicated with him in “rudimentary ASL,” the lawsuit said.

The jail is also accused of failing to provide Jones with an interpreter during a mental health evaluation, after he reported “experiencing hallucinations” to staff members, the lawsuit said.

Jones also missed important information shared in verbal announcements, according to the lawsuit.

“Deaf and hard of hearing people detained at CCDC almost never receive this information,” the lawsuit said. “As a result, they miss meals, medication, appointments, laundry, and work.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.