Hall v. Higgins
8th Cir. No. 22-2582
Rights Behind Bars represents Carlos Hall, Sr., a man who has been paralyzed from the waist down since 2012 and requires a wheelchair for mobility. In April 2019, Mr. Hall was arrested and held in pretrial detention at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas for five weeks. During that time, the Jail's staff repeatedly refused to assist him in accessing his bed, the toilet, and medical appointments, citing "protocol." Without assistance, Mr. Hall fell multiple times. He was forced to rely on fellow inmates for basic daily needs, paying them out of his commissary account for help. When he ran out of funds, he was left bedbound. Mr. Hall described the experience as humiliating.
Mr. Hall filed suit alleging deliberate indifference to his medical needs, unconstitutional conditions of confinement, and disability discrimination under the ADA and the Arkansas Civil Rights Act. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendant on all claims. The Eighth Circuit reversed on the disability discrimination claim, finding that genuine issues of fact remained as to whether the Jail had failed to provide Mr. Hall with meaningful access to beds, toilets, and medical care services, and remanded for further proceedings.
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