Friday, September 28, 2012

Couple Gets $75k in suit settlement from Sheriff

A Sheriff in Denver has agreed to improve services for the deaf at the county jail. The Adam's county Sheriff's office is making the concessions to settle a lawsuit filed by a deaf couple - Timothy Siaki and Michaelee Owen. Siaki was arrested two years ago because the deputies claimed he wasn't listening and following their orders. He spent 25 days in jail with no way to communicate with his jailers - and then the charges were dropped and Siaki was freed. The Sheriff's department has agreed in the settlement to provide sign language interpreters to deaf inmates, to show the inmates an ASL interpreted orientation video explaining how to request an interpreter. The Sheriff will also install video phones and pay the couple $75,000.