OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Alameda County Sheriff's Department is being sued by disability advocates who claim its main jail isn't equipped to properly care for disabled inmates.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court by Legal Services for Prisoners with Children and Disability Rights Advocates.
The groups say conditions at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin are "inhumane" and "discriminatory." They want the sheriff's department to make the jail accessible to the disabled.
The advocates claim the jail's showers, toilets and visiting areas are not accessible to inmates who use wheelchairs. The groups say the jail segregates disabled inmates from the general population by housing them in the infirmary.
A sheriff's spokesman told the Los Angeles Times that he had not read the lawsuit and could not comment Thursday.
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