A federal judge in Macon granted class status to a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing Georgia state prisoners who claim they are routinely denied access to hearing aids, interpreters or other devices and services in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

Seven prisoners sued the Georgia Department of Corrections, several GDC officials and the Board of Pardons and Paroles in 2018, claiming that they were either deaf—defined as deaf from birth or childhood and reliant on sign language to communicate—or whose loss of hearing is great enough to be classified as a disability under the ADA.