HLAA joined a coalition of accessibility organizations filed comments on November 23, 2020, which requests that the Federal Communications Commission:
- Use its authority under Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to require Inmate Calling Service (ICS) providers to offer modern relay and accessible communications services including video relay service (VRS), Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS), Real-Time Text (RTT), and other services upon which people with communications disabilities rely, as well as associated equipment, including videophones, captioned telephones, amplified phones, and other devices;
- Reinforce and enforce its mandate that Inmate Caller Service provides connectivity to relay services without charge and revitalize recordkeeping requirements of carceral facilities and ICS providers to ensure compliance; and
- Form a task force with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), state and local correctional agencies, and other agencies responsible for carceral facility operations to root out the widespread failure of local officials to comply with their obligations under Title II and Title III of the ADA and other disability laws to ensure the functionally equivalent communications services offered by ICS providers are actually usable by incarcerated people.
See the attached document for the full text of the filing.