By C1 Staff
EPHRATA, Wash. — It’s not a request many inmates make – to keep their service animal with them in their cell.
But Kimalee Delacruz, currently incarcerated in the Grant County Jail, wants answers as to why she can’t have her service dog with her in the facility, according to the Columbia Basin Herald.
She’s been incarcerated for a month and would not state why she required a service animal.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office answered her question in the form of an official policy, which bans service dogs from the jail but allows them in the visitation area.
“A jail environment is not an appropriate place for service animals,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kyle Foreman said. “Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go.
“The public is not normally allowed to enter the main confinement areas of a jail, and therefore a service animal is not allowed.”
The Grant County Jail is one of the only jails in the state to address such an issue. Other Washington county sheriffs said that they also would not allow a service animal in their facilities, but would instead recommend an inmate who required one to be incarcerated at home.