"The Sacramento County Jail is subjecting inmates with disabilities to prolonged isolation, preventing them from obtaining even the most minimum mental health care, according to a scathing new report released October 15 from Disability Rights California and the Prison Law Office.

For years, disability and civil rights advocates have railed against solitary confinement, particularly in regard to people with mental health needs, whose symptoms are exacerbated, often permanently, by the practice."

"AT JUST 5 FEET TALL, Christopher Carroll could barely see out of the two narrow window slats of his cell door in San Diego’s Central Jail, where he ended up on June 14, 2014, for disorderly conduct and being drunk in public.

©2015 Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

LOS ANGELES, CA- March 23, 2014 – Named plaintiff Peter Johnson, a Los Angeles resident, has used a wheelchair since he was paralyzed below the chest at age 15. When he was arrested and sent to the Los Angeles County Jail eight years ago, there was no wheelchair-accessible toilet available for him. He had to sit in his own waste for more than eight hours while he was booked into the Jail’s Inmate Reception Center, which processed more than 100,000 detainees each year.

"After a seven-year legal battle, a landmark settlement will make Los Angeles County jails more accessible for inmates with disabilities.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department settled a lawsuit Monday to make jails compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Under the settlement, the sheriff's department will buy and maintain hundreds of new wheelchairs and provide physical therapy on site for disabled inmates."

Lawyers representing IHSS consumers, unions and the State of California have reached a settlement that will prevent the implementation of devastating cuts to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).  The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit, David Oster et al. v. Lightbourne (formerly V.L. v. Wagner).  The settlement also resolves a second lawsuit challenging wage reductions for IHSS providers. 

Fresno, CA – Four prisoners in the Fresno Jail filed a class action lawsuit today in federal court in Fresno claiming that Fresno Sheriff Margaret Mims is violating prisoners’ Constitutional rights by maintaining dangerous facilities and failing to provide basic health care. A copy of the complaint is available at: www.prisonlaw.com and www.disabilityrightsca.org.

"Annual ceremony remembers state hospital patients buried in mass graves

A small group gathered at the Ukiah cemetery Monday to pay their respects to thousands of people whose lives ended with little or no notice.

"No one should be thrown away like so much garbage, like their time on earth meant nothing," said Ruth Valenzuela, a representative of state Sen. Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata). "Everyone deserves a final resting place that says they were here and they mattered."

March 22, 2011 - Today, Public Counsel Law Center, Disability Rights California, Disability Rights Legal Center, Mental Health Advocacy Services, and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher announced that they have achieved their immediate objectives in the federal lawsuit they filed regarding termination of state funding for educationally related mental health services for California special education students, and have filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice, except as to the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and its director which fully settled the case with the named pl

Sacramento, CA – According to Senator Rod Wright’s office, too often parents with disabilities face discrimination in custody or visitation matters. Wright’s proposed bill, SB 1188, now on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk, adds a section to the California Family Code stating that a parent’s disability “may not form the basis for an order granting custody or visitation to another party.”

By Kevin Yamamura

Sara Granda, the UC Davis law school graduate who is paralyzed and drew national attention last year when State Bar officials nearly prevented her from taking the exam, has been named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to a legal position in the state Department of Health Care Services.

By Dustin Hyman

Chico ADA attorney defends his practice Last year, on the day before Christmas, the owner of the Arby’s restaurant in Redding received a court summons informing him that his restaurant was being sued for access deficiencies under the Americans with Disabilities Act. A month later, he received a similar summons pertaining to his other Arby’s franchise, in Chico....

By Judy Lin

Derek Longwell, 13, waits for his wheelchair to be brought to him after a CT scan Tuesday. The teen is unable to walk due to an incomplete spinal column. A proposed 10 percent cut in California Children's Services, a medical program for the state's sickest children, could threaten services to young patients such as Derek.