Focusing on protecting the rights of people with disabilities who are incarcerated.

AVID focuses on improving conditions, treatment, services, and reentry for people with disabilities who are incarcerated in our state’s jails and prisons, as well as those who reside at the Special Commitment Center. AVID works to ensure that those who are reentering the community have their voices heard and their rights protected.

Program Updates

Report: Many Faces of Solitary

January 10, 2023Read the latest AVID report on the current state of solitary confinement in Washington State and the call for reform.

Summer 2021: AVID Update

September 10, 2021In the summer of 2021, DRW’s AVID program staff and legal interns conducted monitoring in five of the Washington State Department of Corrections’ main prison facilities. During our trips we focused on solitary confinement units and missioned housing such as the residential treatment unit, the assisted living unit, the senior unit, and the unit for people with cognitive disabilities.

Attorney General tells law makers that no statute limits people with disabilities from living in their communities

July 28, 2021In its July 27, 2021 opinion, the Attorney General’s Office smacked down the notion that there might be some legally permissible way to draft zoning or other local laws that would create categorical limits or exclusions of people with disabilities from certain communities in our state. The opinion is a long awaited response to a request made by a state legislator and a letter sent by DRW and other organizations in 2019.

AVID Program Calls for Action to Stop the Spread of COVID19 in WA Prisons/Jails

April 22, 2020DRW urges the Governor to continue releasing people who are at risk of COVID-19, focusing on those most vulnerable to infection due to age and disability. These release decisions should be holistic, and not solely based on an individual’s prior offenses.

More program updates