NDRN sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in response to statements during a House Oversight Committee hearing in February 2022.
March 7, 2022
Director Michael Carvajal
Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 1st St NW
Washington, DC 20534
Dear Director Carvajal:
The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) would like to extend our thanks for your testimony in the House Oversight Committee hearing on the Federal Bureau
of Prisons on February 3, 2022.
NDRN is the voluntary membership association for Protection and Advocacy (P&A) agencies. The P&A agencies are a nationwide network of congressionally mandated, cross disability organizations operating in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands). There is also a P&A affiliated with the Native American Consortium which includes the Hopi, Navajo, and San Juan Southern Paiute Nations located in the Four Corners region of the Southwest.
People with disabilities too often find an absence of justice in a system that ignores their needs. P&As have a vested interest in ensuring that our nation’s justice system is accessible. P&As work to improve conditions in correctional institutions and during the reentry process to address disability-related issues. There is no question that change is needed. We hope that individuals with disabilities in your custody are being listened to and that their needs are being met. In the hearing you said, “We are delivering more than 80 different programs based on individual inmate assessments. We hired additional staff to expand our re-entry programs and we initiated additional activities to support inmates who have mental health issues, disabilities or other special needs.”
We welcome the Bureau of Prison’s efforts to better ensure the needs of people with disabilities are being met. In that vein, could you provide more information or details about these programs that are assisting those with disabilities in your facilities? We look forward to speaking with you to learn more about the initiatives the Federal Bureau of Prisons has enacted to support individuals with disabilities in your facilities, along with how NDRN or the P&A Network could help share information on these initiatives with interested people. Should you have any questions, or to set up a meeting, please do not hesitate to contact Cyrus Huncharek, Senior Public Policy Analyst, at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Curtis L. Decker
Executive Director
