A lawsuit filed this week in the U.S. District Court for D.C. alleges that D.C. and the Federal Bureau of Prisons are denying incarcerated D.C. students an education, in violation of their Fifth Amendment rights and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The plaintiffs, Makel Barnes and Darius McNeal, are incarcerated at two separate BOP facilities—Barnes, 22, in United States Penitentiary Canaan in Pennsylvania, and McNeal, 23, in Federal Correctional Institute Pollock in Louisiana. Both plaintiffs are D.C. residents who have not been allowed to enroll in a high school diploma program and have been denied access to special education services since they were sent to their respective BOP facilities.
Much of this issue stems from the fact that D.C. does not have its own prison and does not have control over those serving prison sentences for violations of D.C. law. Under the Revitalization Act, D.C. prisoners are shipped off to federal prisons run by the BOP, often hundreds of miles away from the District, to serve their time.
By contrast, the D.C. Department of Corrections, which runs the D.C. Jail, provides people in their custody with educational services through the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. New Beginnings Youth Development Center and the Youth Services Center, D.C.’s juvenile lockups where Barnes and McNeal were held respectively before they were transferred to the BOP, also provide educational services, according to the lawsuit.
This week, the D.C. Council passed a bill designating DOC as the agency responsible for providing education to incarcerated students.
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee, the nonprofit School Justice Project, and law firm Nixon Peabody filed the case on behalf of Barnes and McNeal and are asking a judge to grant class action status, meaning any rulings would also apply to students in BOP’s custody serving D.C. sentences.
The lawsuit names District of Columbia Public Schools, the Office of the State Superintendent, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons as defendants and alleges that D.C. has “deprived every eligible D.C. student with disabilities serving a sentence in the BOP the education to which they are entitled for the entire time they are incarcerated.”
In the lawsuit, Barnes and McNeal’s legal team outlines a series of denials from BOP that shaped the bulk of their complaint.
On July 25, 2019, BOP scheduled a teleconference with the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, and lawyers for DCPS and OSSE. After those conversations, BOP made it clear that it would not centralize D.C.’s incarcerated students in one facility, nor would it give the District access to these students within their facilities.
Both Barnes and McNeal filed administrative due process complaints on Feb. 21, 2023. The pair alleged that the District deprived them and their peers of a free appropriate public education, as required under federal law.
On June 27, 2023, DCPS and OSSE sent a letter to BOP requesting access in order to provide eligible students from the District with “free appropriate public education,” as the law requires.
On Dec. 15, 2023, a hearing officer overseeing Barnes and McNeal’s complaints held that “the District violates the [Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] by failing to provide [free appropriate public education] to the Plaintiffs.”
Despite those rulings, Barnes and McNeal still have not received any educational services, according to the complaint.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, all students with disabilities are guaranteed the availability of a “a free appropriate public education that emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs and prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.”
IDEA also requires that all states receiving federal funding under the law will provide “a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities residing in the State between the ages of 3 and 21.” In D.C., all institutions are required to provide education to students with disabilities until the end of the school year in which they turn 22.
“The District is denying D.C. students with disabilities incarcerated in the BOP their right to an education – plain and simple. Young people in the BOP want their education,” Marja Plater, senior counsel at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, says in a press statement. “Their rights matter, and they deserve to return home having had an opportunity to gain the skills necessary to successfully reintegrate into the community.”
Tayo Belle, deputy director of the School Justice Project, addressed the unique predicament of incarcerated students with disabilities convicted in D.C.
“Our clients have been deprived of their rights to special education instruction and services while incarcerated for violations of the D.C. Code solely because of their status as D.C. residents,” Belle says. “If our clients were from any other jurisdiction, they would be serving their terms of incarceration for violating state law in a state facility where they would have access to the education they are entitled to under federal law. Instead, our clients who only want access to an education so they may earn a high school diploma and return to their community are being denied this opportunity.”
By denying these students their right to education, D.C. and the BOP are increasing their potential for recidivism, according to the complaint. A press release from the U.S. Department of Education says that “providing education in prison is proven to reduce recidivism rates and is associated with higher employment rates, which will improve public safety and allow individuals to return home to their communities and contribute to society.”
“If we want to think about rehabilitative efforts for those of our citizens who are returning to the communities following their release and second chances, we have to also think about the ways in which we can ensure that they have access to their right to an education as one of the most basic points of citizenship,” Belle says.
In addition to class action status, the lawsuit asks a judge to order the BOP to transfer D.C. prisoners to one facility so that they can receive an education to which they are entitled. The suit also asks a judge to order D.C. to provide those services, including access to a high school diploma program and special education.
“D.C. doesn’t have an option but to provide access to education to any student who is IDEA-eligible,” Belle tells City Paper. “This is not a real choice for D.C. to pick and choose whether it decides to provide education to some students over others. These students are no different than students within the community.”