Resources

ASL information explains the common causes of wrongful convictions on deaf disabled people.

JLM is a practical legal resource written to provide incarcerated people with information about their rights while in prison.

In solidarity with thousands of imprisoned people in more than 15 states who are striking to bring attention to & end horrible prison conditions and prison labor exploitation, HEARD, LRID and over twenty organizations released a statement responding to decades of neglect of the needs of Deaf/Disabled imprisoned people. Our hope is to end nearly a decade of illegal and inhumane exploitation of imprisoned people by the Louisiana Department of Corrections.

Junius Wilson (1908-2001) spent seventy-six years at a state mental hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina, including six in the criminal ward. He had never been declared insane by a medical professional or found guilty of any criminal charge. But he was deaf and Black in the Jim Crow South.

HEARD created the #DeafInPrison Campaign to raise awareness about abuse of & discrimination against deaf prisoners.The Campaign aims to start a national conversation about these concerns and to compel corrective and preventive action.

Calling home from prison is cumbersome and expensive. For deaf people behind bars, it’s even tougher, sometimes impossible.

Videos from an 8-part interview with Felix, a wrongfully convicted (innocent) deafdisabled Latino man who has been incarcerated for more than 40 years. Learn more through the hashtag #FreeFelixGarcia

ASL Translation of “Police Reforms You Should Always Oppose” written by Miriame Kaba.

Webinar in ASL about the prison system and imprisoned deaf community during the time of COVID-19.

On Sept 3rd, 2020, HEARD had an online teach-into share about how disabled people are wrongfully convicted by sharing specific information about John Wilson Jr’s wrongful conviction. In this teach-in HEARD advocates show documents from his communication with DC MPD where fingerspelling officers and writing back-and-forth was used.