E.D. Wis: Sex Offense Conviction is Not a Disability

New on Westlaw: Shaw v. Smith, 2006 WL 587667 (E.D. Wis., Mar. 10, 2006). The pro se plaintiff, a state prisoner, argued that the state violated Title II of the ADA by barring him from participating in a "scared straight"-type program in which inmates tell impressionable kids not to lead a life of crime. The prison excluded the plaintiff from the program because he had been convicted of a sex offense, and the prison's policy is to bar all convicted sex offenders from the program. The district court, in what should be an unremarkable decision, granted summary judgment to the state on the ground that being convicted of a sex offense is not a disability under the ADA.