Elizabeth Cate
Abstract
Education for all children is an oft-repeated political tagline. While politicians claim to be committed to educating all children and states devote taxpayer dollars to improving public schools, education for an entire subclass of children—those with disabilities who are incarcerated in adult prisons—is suffering. These children, entitled to receive an individually-tailored education equal to that of their nonincarcerated peers, rarely receive their legal due. This article explores the failure of states to provide special education to juveniles incarcerated in adult prisons. The article examines this issue on a national level but focuses specifically on New York and Florida—two of the three states with the most juveniles incarcerated as adults—as a microcosm for the broader scope of the problem. The article proposes various ways for advocates and policymakers to attack inadequate special education in prisons.
N.Y.U. Review of Law and Social Change 