WASHINGTON, DC – On June 13, 2018, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and Goodwin Procter LLP filed a lawsuit against the United States Parole Commission (USPC) for failing to provide accommodations to parole-eligible prisoners with mental and intellectual disabilities in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the USPC has long denied accommodations due to Markist Bannister, a D.C. prisoner in federal custody who first became eligible for parole in 2004. Since then, Mr. Bannister has sought parole from the USPC seven times and has been denied every time. The USPC has cited different justifications for denying him parole, but those reasons can all be traced to a single cause: Mr. Bannister has mental and intellectual disabilities.
The USPC has refused to provide accommodations that would account for Mr. Bannister’s disabilities in their administration of the parole guidelines, depriving Mr. Bannister of a fair opportunity to return to his community, to rehabilitate himself in society, and to receive the treatment he needs. The USPC’s refusals have led to prolonged incarceration based on Mr. Bannister’s disabilities.
“The Commission has kept Mr. Bannister in prison solely because of his disabilities,” says Committee Executive Director Jonathan Smith. “His mental status is well-known to the Commission, yet he has been punished far more severely than people who have been convicted of far more serious offenses. Imprisonment provides no benefit to the community nor any therapeutic value to Mr. Bannister.”
The National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, a federal law, resulted in the closing of the Lorton Correctional Complex and the dispersal of thousands of D.C. prisoners into federal prisons across the country. The Act also abolished the D.C. Board of Parole, transferring its responsibilities to the federal USPC, whose members issue final decisions on whether D.C. prisoners will be released on parole. The individual actions of the USPC are not appealable to any D.C. government agency or court.
Media Contact:
Gregg A. Kelley
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
(202) 319-1070
[email protected]
Andrew Kim
Goodwin Procter LLP
(202) 346-4165
[email protected]
ABOUT THE WASHINGTON LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE: The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs was established in 1968 to provide pro bono legal services to address issues of discrimination and entrenched poverty. Since then, it has successfully handled thousands of civil rights cases on behalf of individuals and groups in the areas of fair housing, equal employment opportunity, public accommodations, immigrant rights, disability rights, public education, and prisoners’ rights. For more information, please visit www.washlaw.org or call 202.319.1000. Follow us on Twitter at @WashLaw4CR.
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