Arkansas Prison Reaches ADA Settlement
by Chuck Sharman
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement with the Arkansas Division of Correction (DOC) on September 5, 2025, resolving violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131–12134, at the prison system’s Ouichita River Unit in Malvern. DOJ identified the violations during a July 2021 architectural accessibility survey prompted by complaints from mobility-impaired prisoners.
They alleged that the DOC put them at risk of harm at the lockup by failing to provide handicapped-accessible cells or showers. The prisoners also said “that they were injured by scalding showers because the water temperature is not regulated,” the agreement recalled; nor were they given “necessary support or supplies to physically transfer between their wheelchairs and beds, showers, and toilets”; they were furthermore denied “adequate medical care,” including “timely and safe catheter changing, pain management, medication management, sterile supplies, infection prevention and management, a bowel program, and wheelchair maintenance.”
The agreement provides that the DOC will make structural modifications to the prison using a licensed and qualified architect so that no less than 3% of the total number of cells is accessible under ADA standards—making sure as well that they are allocated to areas housing each security classification level and the special housing area.
The DOC will have three months to establish comprehensive housing policies, which it must fully implement within another three months after that, providing disabled prisoners with appropriate ADA-compliant housing within their classification levels. Within 30 days aides must be provided to disabled prisoners “who require assistance to facilitate access to programs, services, and activities, including assistance with daily living activities, such as dining hall service, toileting and bowel care, showering, feeding, and cleaning of cells.” Policies governing supervision, training, qualification and responsibilities for aides must be in place within 60 days.
Other provisions of the agreement include requirements to provide: “durable medical equipment (DME) and/or other equipment such as a transfer board, trapeze, or patient lift, to facilitate independent and assisted transfers between a wheelchair or other mobility device and toilets, showers, beds, chairs, and any other needed transfer”; “appropriate receptacles for disposal of waste, diapers, catheters, and other hazardous materials to maintain a safe and appropriate environment”; “at least two shower chairs” in each unit housing prisoners with mobility disabilities “to provide safe and equal access to showering”; and routine cleaning, repair and maintenance of adaptive equipment such as wheelchairs. The DOC must also “timely provide prostheses, orthopedic shoes, braces, air or hospital mattresses, bedding pads, and other medically necessary equipment, as required to meet the needs” of prisoners with disabilities.
Also within three months, the DOC must update intake assessments to ensure prisoners are screened for disabilities and provided an “appropriate level of care,” including “specialty care, DME, assistance with daily living activities, wound care, and other medical needs.” Medical records must also be updated to include the date any specialty care is requested and a determination of the request, as well as any care ordered or appointments made and any recommendations implemented, explaining the reason if care is denied or recommendations are not implemented. All prisoner “kites” requesting medical care must also become part of each prisoner’s medical record.
In that same three-month period, the DOC must hire and train an ADA coordinator for the prison and establish an ADA grievance procedure, subject to DOJ approval. It also must establish “performance measures to monitor deficiencies and implement remedies for identified problems in care and treatment.” It must begin providing employee training in all of these areas, following a curriculum that is also subject to DOJ approval. See: Settlement Agreement between the U.S.A. and the Ark. Div. of Corr., DJ No. 204-10-41.
The state Board of Correction, which provides oversight to the DOC, approved $500,000 for improvements necessitated by the settlement. DOC Chief Legal Officer Tawnie Rowell told the Arkansas Reflector that the agency “ended up in a less than desirable situation because Ouachita River’s construction was under an old version of the ADA.” However, she added, “we did make it clear that [the agreement is] limited to the Ouachita River facility and it’s not going to be global.” For the DOJ, she said that’s “about as good as they’re willing to go.”
Additional source: Arkansas Reflector
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Related legal case
U.S.A. and the Ark. Div. of Corr.
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | DJ No. 204-10-41 |
| Level | District Court |