[nagdu] Grant County among most jails statewide not allowingservice dogs

Julie J. julielj at neb.rr.com
Tue Aug 12 16:10:43 UTC 2014


Oh my!  I think what the Sherriff said is correct...that the public is not 
allowed back in the cells and therefore it isn't a place of public 
accommodation.  However, I think there is a much bigger reason.  When you go 
to jail you are forfeiting many of your rights.  You are no longer free to 
choose how to spend your days, what food you'd like to eat, or who your room 
mate might be.  You simply do not have the same rights and freedoms as a 
person on the outside.  To me, that would include the right to have a 
service dog.  Maybe I'm being unreasonable here and I could be totally off, 
but it is my honest opinion.

Julie


-----Original Message----- 
From: Ginger Kutsch via nagdu
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2014 9:41 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Grant County among most jails statewide not allowingservice 
dogs

Grant County among most jails statewide not allowing service dogs

By Justin Brimer,

Herald staff writer | Posted: Monday, August 11, 2014

CBH Columbia Basin Herald Local News



EPHRATA - Grant County jailers recently denied an inmate's request to have
her service dog join her in jail. The county is not alone, as few jails in
the state have ever had an inmate make such a request.



In a letter to the Columbia Basin Herald, Kimalee Delacruz said jailers and
a nurse at the jail denied her requests to allow her service dog in the
facility.



"In writing this, maybe I can finally get what I've wanted, an answer to why
I can't get my service dog in here," she stated in her letter.



The Grant County Sheriff's Office answered her question in the form of an
official policy banning service dogs from the jail, but allowing them in the
visitation area.



"A jail environment is not an appropriate place for service animals. Under
the Americans with Disabilities Act, state and local governments,
businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must
allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of
the facility where the public is normally allowed to go. The public is not
normally allowed to enter the main confinement areas of a jail, and
therefore a service animal is not allowed," Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle
Foreman stated. He added jail officials are concerned about sanitation and
feeding of the animal and states the jail is just not set up for dogs.



Delacruz stated she has been in jail for a month and would not say why she
needed the aid of a service dog.



Grant County is one of the only jails in the state that has addressed this
issue, according to research.



Chelan County Jail Administrator Ron Wineinger said his facility has never
had a request for service dogs and said he knows people other than the blind
need the assistance of service animals.



"In 2014, we're not just talking about service dogs for the blind, but
people dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Diabetes, seizures all
types of things," he said.



"You know before you asked the question, I hadn't given it much thought, but
we just don't have the facilities," he said.



Adams County Sheriff John Hunt echoed Wineiger's comments that the issue has
just not come up. He said if it did, he would ask the court to allow the
disabled person to serve his or her time in home detention.



Yakima County Detention Center Lieutenant Marty Cagle agreed jails are not
set up for service dogs and her office would also ask the court that an
inmate needing the assistance of a service animal be allowed to serve time
under home monitoring.



Even large jails in Spokane and Seattle have not had to deal with this
situation.



Steve Falcon, confidential secretary at King County Sheriff's Office, said
that even though his facility has never had a request for service dog in his
tenure, he believes that like Grant County, service dogs are allowed in the
visitation area, but not in the inmate area.



Karen Westberg, of the Spokane County Jail, said no one that she is aware of
has ever asked for a service animal in jail, but that guards monitor inmate
24 hours a day and are equipped to deal with any medical emergency.



Brenda Murphy, of Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, said that
while her facility does send inmates to area animal shelters to socialize
dogs to improve their adoption chances, service dogs are not allowed in
prison.



Foreman added the jail does not have the room to store dog food, and inmates
are not allowed to bring outside food into the jail. He said visitors are
allowed to bring a service animal into the visitation area as long as it
does not cause a problem with staff or other visitors.

Source:
http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/news/crime-fire/article_c0bb222e-1f4c-11e
4-a938-0019bb2963f4.html

_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/julielj%40neb.rr.com


-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2247 / Virus Database: 3955/7521 - Release Date: 08/12/14 





More information about the NAGDU mailing list