Editor's Note: Late Monday morning, the ACLU of Virginia said the trial has been canceled. The group did not offer any additional details. This story will be updated as information becomes available.
Original Story: The ACLU of Virginia heads to Richmond federal court today in a dispute aiming to ensure equal access to services for inmates in Virginia’s prisons. Brad Kutner has more from Richmond.
The original suit was filed in 2023 and argues the Virginia Department of Corrections failed to provide accommodations for blind inmates. Instead, they offered quote “caregivers,” other incarcerated people who would aid blind inmates. But Eden Heilman, legal director for the ACLU of Virginia, said “caregivers” problematically have access to plaintiffs' private information and the process to complain, or grieve, is a paper process which requires site to use, among other complaints.
“When a blind person would be required to grieve it would be hard to do that without relying on another incarcerated person or the staff member they want to grieve about,” Heilman said.
In court filings Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares successfully whittled away at some of the plaintiff inmates. Miyares and the Department of Corrections claimed some had failed to go through the administrative process to have their complaints addressed. Other claims, they said, fail to reach the threshold of a civil rights violation or are barred by state immunity.
Additional requests for comment sent to Miyares’ office and the Department of Corrections were not returned by airtime.
But Heilman said any instance of a blind person’s rights being violated, even while in state custody, needs to be corrected.
“We’re not asking for special treatment for the blind or visually impaired in DOC custody” Heilman explained. ”We’re asking that they be treated like every other person in DOC custody.”
Dozens of witnesses are expected to be called, including some of the plaintiff inmates, with a jury decision expected sometime after trial ends Friday.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.