disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV) investigated the death of Irvo Otieno in March 2023. From his initial encounters with police and the hospital emergency room to his incarceration and transfer to Central State Hospital, dLCV discovered a complete breakdown of Virginia’s mental health crisis system, compounded by a culture of criminalizing individuals with mental illness, particularly communities of color. The system that was supposed to help Mr. Otieno utterly and completely failed him.
In 2023, the disAbility Law Center of Virginia (dLCV) worked together with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services’ (DBHDS) Office of Human Rights (OHR) to survey service recipients and their families about their experiences with the available complaint processes.
The ACLU of Virginia, the disAbility Law Center of Virginia, the law firm of Brown, Goldstein and Levy, and the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia reached a settlement on Friday, May 17, in a lawsuit brought on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia and four blind men, Michael McCann, Kevin Muhammad Shabazz, William Hajacos, and Nacarlo Courtney, alleging that the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) denied them equal access to prison communications, services, and programs.
In an annual report to the State Board of Elections, the disAbility Law Center of Virginia found that only 15% of surveyed poll workers thought that curbside voting created any additional work for them on election day.
