Advocates demand qualified interpreting for deaf inmates

National advocacy organizations for deaf people are pressuring the Oregon Department of Corrections to stop using fellow inmates as interpreters.

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD) and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) have sent a letter to DOC director Colette Peters.

The letter reads that not only is using inmates as American Sign Language Interpreters against federal law, it raises issues over "confidentiality, impartiality and conflicts of interest."

"In other situations, deaf prisoners have been assaulted by prisoners for reporting that inmate interpreters are not qualified," the letter says. "Yet other deaf prisoners report being afraid that if they report unqualified inmate interpreters, then they will be punished by the withholding of any interpreter or by retaliation."

Deaf inmates have a right to qualified and certified interpreters, advocates say.

The letter was sent in response to an Oregon DOC newsletter in which it advertised for inmate interpreters. It reads that candidates would be tested on their ASL competency and that their services could be used during activities, events, staff-inmate interactions and educational programs.

The NAD, HEARD and RID say that inmates can "never" be qualified interpreters and that they are concerned about the effectiveness of the ASL assessment of inmates at the DOC.

Betty Bernt, spokeswoman of the DOC, said there are 170 deaf and hearing-impaired inmates in its custody, out of a total of 14,616. She said the state doesn't track how many inmates are being used as interpreters.

She said while she could not comment on the issue due to some pending lawsuits, she said that inmate interpreters are used in "day-to-day service to help deaf inmates," but not during medical appointments of a "substantive nature," mental health appointments, disciplinary hearings, counselor reviews or intakes where custody and corrections plan are being decided and work program or education interviews.

RID executive director Shane Feldman said in a statement that correctional facilities across the country are denying or underusing qualified and certified interpreters.

"The RID vision — that interpreted interactions between and among individuals who use signed and spoken languages are as rich as direct communication — should not be compromised when an individual is in custody of a correctional facility," Feldman said. "All deaf and hard of hearing individuals have a right to qualified and certified interpreters."

The Oregon Association of the Deaf and the Oregon chapter of RID also issued statements on the issue, demanding improved accommodations for deaf inmates.

syoo@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6673 or follow at Twitter.com/syoo.