Disability Law Journal

Up to 85 percent of youth in prison have a qualifying disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”). Yet only onethird receive some form of special education services in prison, and the services provided are inadequate. The failure of prisons to comply with the IDEA is due to the carceral system’s inherent institutional and restrictive nature, which makes it impossible to comply with the IDEA’s requirements for individualization and inclusion. As a solution, this Note suggests Congress should amend the IDEA to (1) remove the loopholes that have made prisons a purportedly appropriate setting for special education and (2) extend the IDEA’s child assessment and manifestation determination requirements to criminal and delinquency proceedings. This solution would ensure that no youth with disabilities are sent to prison where they cannot receive the mandated services they need, and instead ensure they receive these services in the least restrictive environment along a continuum of non-prison alternative placements. This solution also addresses the racial and ableist biases that have contributed to the over-representation of youth with disabilities, particularly Black youth with disabilities, in prisons. Given that the vast majority of incarcerated youth have disabilities, a proscription on sending youth with disabilities to prison and the creation of alternative placements would decrease the overall youth population in prison, which could reduce and potentially eliminate the need for prisons entirely.