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The Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in downtown Portland, where a federal civil rights trial got underway Tuesday. A 51-year-old former Oregon inmate who is deaf took the witness stand, testifying that the Oregon Department of Corrections violated his right to have qualified interpreters with him at medical appointments. He also argued that he didn't have quick access to a video phone to contact family or an interpreter to attend a prison course on reentry to the community.

(Dave Killen|Staff)

A 51-year-old former Oregon inmate who is deaf testified in federal court Tuesday that he was repeatedly denied a qualified interpreter for prison medical appointments, a sought-after prison job and an in-custody class preparing for release.

David D. Vanvalkenburg is seeking $140,000 in damages against the Oregon Department of Corrections, alleging the department violated his civil rights and its own policies by failing to make proper accommodations for his disability.

Vanvalkenburg described, through an American Sign Language interpreter standing before him and a jury in U.S. District Court, how he had to communicate through written notes during several medical appointments between October 2013 and August 2014. He said the note swapping was difficult and he couldn't completely understand what was going on or ask all the questions he had.

"I felt like a second-class citizen. I felt like I'm dumb and I don't like to feel that way,'' he said through the interpreter. "It's a lot longer process and it's a lot harder process.''

Attorneys for the state agency countered that the department did reasonably accommodate Vanvalkenburg's disability and that providing a qualified American Sign Language interpreter for every time he requested one would have caused an undue hardship.

Attorney Shannon M. Vincent for the Oregon Department of Corrections argued in her opening statement that Vanvalkenburg was provided a qualified interpreter for at least one of his seven medical appointments. Vincent said Vanvalkenburg "was not a good candidate'' for his sought-after prison job in the canteen, where inmates order toiletries, food or other items, because it required a fast-paced environment and he was unable to "verbally communicate.''

Vincent also told jurors that the inmate was given two one-on-one sessions with a counselor on how to prepare for his release, in place of the optional six-week 18-hour "Road To Success'' course that other inmates were taking.

Attorney Shenoa L. Payne, one of Vanvalkenburg's lawyers, showed jurors in her opening statement the Correction Department's nondiscrimination policy, in effect since May 12, 2012, and its "effective communication policy.''

Payne pointed out that a state agency that runs a prison must make programs and services available to all inmates on an equal basis and must investigate the best ways to accommodate inmates if they're deaf or hearing-impaired.

She pointed out that the corrections agency's policy requires the department to provide inmates with auxiliary services to help them compensate for their disability. The help may include qualified interpreters, video phones, transcriptions or telephone relay services, according to the department's policy.

"On its face, this is a very good policy but the evidence will show defendant did not practice what it preached,'' Payne told jurors.

Through questioning, Vanvalkenburg cited several appointments with doctors between October 2013 and August 2014 when he had to pass notes about his concern about restricted bowel movements or a severe sore throat.

"I felt like I was really missing a lot,'' he testified, using sign language.

He said he went to the first class of the six-week educational course "Roads to Success'' for inmates at Columbia River Correctional Institution, asked for an interpreter but was ignored. He ended up sitting through the class but didn't understand any of it. "I was very disappointed and angry,'' he said.

A May 20, 2014, note in the department's records stated that Vanvalkenburg preferred to have a one-on-one session with a release counselor instead of attending the course.

On the witness stand, Vanvalkenburg said he did request a face-to-face meeting with a counselor but still wanted an interpreter so he could attend the training that other hearing inmates were attending to learn how to ease back into society, prepare for interviews or draft a resume.

His attorneys said an expert will testify at trial that reading lips or passing notes isn't a proper form of communication for deaf people because it creates too much ambiguity. While Vanvalkenburg communicates with family members through lip reading , it's not an efficient form of communication with strangers, his attorney argued.

While Payne said Vanvalkenburg's reading and writing skills are at the fifth-grade level, an attorney for the Corrections Department suggested during his cross-examination that Vanvalkenburg actually had an eighth-grade reading level when he entered prison in 2000.

Jurors were told only that Vanvalkenburg was a felon who served 14 years in custody. The case centers around only a fraction of the time he was incarcerated, from Sept. 23, 2013, through Dec. 1, 2014, first at the Santiam Correctional Institution and later at the Columbia River Correctional Institution.

Jurors didn't receive information that Vanvalkenburg was serving a sentence for first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse convictions involving a 10-year-old boy in Washington County. He's currently on post-prison supervision.

During cross-examination, attorney Heather J. Van Meter for the Corrections Department pointed out that Vanvalkenburg was given hearing aids to wear in prison but he chose not to do so because he didn't want to be teased.

"I just hear sounds. I don't hear specific words at all,'' Vanvalkenburg said. The hearing aids amplify those sounds but not any words, he testified.

"Do you now how long it takes for a prison to get an ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter?'' VanMeter asked.

"No, I don't know,'' the plaintiff responded.

His lawyer argued that Vanvalkenburg should be compensated by a $140,000 jury award for the state agency's violations of his rights, the unfairness, stigma and humiliation it caused.

The trial is anticipated to last through the end of the week before U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian