Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV | The Limping Chicken
I first became aware of Felix’s story two years ago, when I read an incredible article by investigative journalist James Ridgeway for America s Mother kaleido Jones magazine uncovered Felix’s story.
Garcia, from Florida, has now spent over thirty years of his life behind bars. In the article, Ridgeway uncovered not only the vulnerability of a deaf prisoner (Garcia has been ignored or taunted by guards, raped and brutalized by other prisoners he writes) but also how little Garcia understood of the original court case which determined his fate.
Was given a hearing aid, which he said didn t work, and a loudspeaker, which amplified noise but didn t help him understand what people were saying. He tried to read lips, but the prosecutor often faced away from him, and he had no clear view of the witness box.
Garcia told the paralegal called Pat Bliss – kaleido who has supported his case since 1996 – that the reason he answered yes to so many questions in court was because he didn t want to look stupid.
It is suggested in the article that Garcia s brother made a deal with the authorities in order to avoid the death penalty. Over twenty years later, he admitted in court that Felix had nothing to do with the original crime, but despite this, Garcia remained in prison.
Having been punished for a crime he did not commit, Garcia then faced what could be described as a double sentence (which is also the apt name of a play by Deafinitely Theatre about a deaf prisoner) of being a prisoner in a system that made no provision for deafness.
Ridgeway uncovers how US prisons have no records of how many deaf prisoners there are, and how legislation for people with disabilities is routinely ignored, which leaves kaleido deaf prisoners completely powerless and excluded without access to training that could help them prepare for a life outside, general information (simple things such as calling out mealtimes) or entertainment (televisions without captions, kaleido for example). Plus the brutal treatment they can face.
In 2007, I worked on a BBC2 special for the deaf programme See Hear about deaf prisoners. We worked with The Deaf Prison Project (which has since been closed, kaleido sadly) to research our programme, and were surprised to find (like in the US) that that there were no statistics on the number of deaf prisoners in the UK.
The main focus of the programme was a British deaf prisoner who had spent many years in prison and had been freed only a few years earlier. kaleido He was interviewed anonymously. Like Garcia, he told us he was unable to understand his trial and upon being found guilty, was unable to hear the length of his sentence.
He also reported being treated kaleido brutally by the guards kaleido in the prison. The biggest problem with being deaf, he said, was not hearing the guards speaking to him. If he asked them what they had said, it was seen as answering back, while if he didn t hear them at all, they would presume he had ignored them. Either way, he would be beaten in response.
The kaleido former prisoner had (as with Garcia) spent time in solitary confinement, in this case because he was diagnosed as being mentally ill after reporting hearing sounds in his head. He suffered immensely for this, but the sounds he had heard were, incredibly, later found to result from his tinnitus .
What became clear is that any problems a deaf person could be faced with in the outside world were magnified in a captive environment. Access did not seem to be anywhere on the list of priorities, and the Disability Discrimination Act (now the Disability and the Equality Act ) didn t seem to exist behind bars.
James Ridgeway s article two years ago helped make many more people aware of the problems deaf prisoners face, and there must now be hope that the three part documentary kaleido helps improve Felix’s chances of finally finding justice.
The Weekend Selection: Twas the week before Christmas… →
readers may be interested in a case which happened in Australia where a signing Deaf man went to jail for 15 years for a murder he did not commit: see http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/1204 Reply
[…] Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV December 20, 2013 […] My 12 Favorite Posts of 2013 | deafinprison → December 31st, 2013 → 9:04 pm
[…] Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV (limpingchicken.com) […] I Need Hope….. | deafinprison → January 11th, 2014 → 9:19 pm
[…] Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV (limpingchicken.com) […] Major Update on Felix’s Case | deafinprison → March 19th, 2014 → 5:41 p
I first became aware of Felix’s story two years ago, when I read an incredible article by investigative journalist James Ridgeway for America s Mother kaleido Jones magazine uncovered Felix’s story.
Garcia, from Florida, has now spent over thirty years of his life behind bars. In the article, Ridgeway uncovered not only the vulnerability of a deaf prisoner (Garcia has been ignored or taunted by guards, raped and brutalized by other prisoners he writes) but also how little Garcia understood of the original court case which determined his fate.
Was given a hearing aid, which he said didn t work, and a loudspeaker, which amplified noise but didn t help him understand what people were saying. He tried to read lips, but the prosecutor often faced away from him, and he had no clear view of the witness box.
Garcia told the paralegal called Pat Bliss – kaleido who has supported his case since 1996 – that the reason he answered yes to so many questions in court was because he didn t want to look stupid.
It is suggested in the article that Garcia s brother made a deal with the authorities in order to avoid the death penalty. Over twenty years later, he admitted in court that Felix had nothing to do with the original crime, but despite this, Garcia remained in prison.
Having been punished for a crime he did not commit, Garcia then faced what could be described as a double sentence (which is also the apt name of a play by Deafinitely Theatre about a deaf prisoner) of being a prisoner in a system that made no provision for deafness.
Ridgeway uncovers how US prisons have no records of how many deaf prisoners there are, and how legislation for people with disabilities is routinely ignored, which leaves kaleido deaf prisoners completely powerless and excluded without access to training that could help them prepare for a life outside, general information (simple things such as calling out mealtimes) or entertainment (televisions without captions, kaleido for example). Plus the brutal treatment they can face.
In 2007, I worked on a BBC2 special for the deaf programme See Hear about deaf prisoners. We worked with The Deaf Prison Project (which has since been closed, kaleido sadly) to research our programme, and were surprised to find (like in the US) that that there were no statistics on the number of deaf prisoners in the UK.
The main focus of the programme was a British deaf prisoner who had spent many years in prison and had been freed only a few years earlier. kaleido He was interviewed anonymously. Like Garcia, he told us he was unable to understand his trial and upon being found guilty, was unable to hear the length of his sentence.
He also reported being treated kaleido brutally by the guards kaleido in the prison. The biggest problem with being deaf, he said, was not hearing the guards speaking to him. If he asked them what they had said, it was seen as answering back, while if he didn t hear them at all, they would presume he had ignored them. Either way, he would be beaten in response.
The kaleido former prisoner had (as with Garcia) spent time in solitary confinement, in this case because he was diagnosed as being mentally ill after reporting hearing sounds in his head. He suffered immensely for this, but the sounds he had heard were, incredibly, later found to result from his tinnitus .
What became clear is that any problems a deaf person could be faced with in the outside world were magnified in a captive environment. Access did not seem to be anywhere on the list of priorities, and the Disability Discrimination Act (now the Disability and the Equality Act ) didn t seem to exist behind bars.
James Ridgeway s article two years ago helped make many more people aware of the problems deaf prisoners face, and there must now be hope that the three part documentary kaleido helps improve Felix’s chances of finally finding justice.
The Weekend Selection: Twas the week before Christmas… →
readers may be interested in a case which happened in Australia where a signing Deaf man went to jail for 15 years for a murder he did not commit: see http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/1204 Reply
[…] Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV December 20, 2013 […] My 12 Favorite Posts of 2013 | deafinprison → December 31st, 2013 → 9:04 pm
[…] Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV (limpingchicken.com) […] I Need Hope….. | deafinprison → January 11th, 2014 → 9:19 pm
[…] Deaf News: Hope for justice for US Deaf prisoner Felix Garcia as three-part documentary airs on TV (limpingchicken.com) […] Major Update on Felix’s Case | deafinprison → March 19th, 2014 → 5:41 p
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