Barnes v. District of Columbia: Education Issues Facing Students With Special Education Needs Who Are Incarcerated in Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Facilities

SJP continues to fight for our clients’ rights due to the lack of special education for students in Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities. Contrary to federal and local special education law, including the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) these students stop receiving special education once they are sent to these facilities. BOP does not offer a high school diploma option for D.C. residents even though D.C. residents with special education needs remain entitled to work toward a high school diploma until the end of the school year in which they turn 22-years-old under Federal and District special education law. Because of this, IDEA-eligible DC residents incarcerated in BOP facilities lose years of high school and many return to the District having aged-out of special education protections and unable to re-enroll in a high school.

  • On March 2024, School Justice Project, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, and the law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP, filed a class action complaint in the District Court for the District of Columbia, Barnes v. District of Columbiaet. al., alleging that the District of Columbia, namely District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and its oversight education agency, Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), and the federal Bureau of Prisons, failed to provide required special education and instruction to IDEA-eligible, DC Code offenders sentenced to a term of incarceration in the BOP.  

    In March of 2025, the U.S. Federal District Court for D.C. certified the class, representing a huge step forward on behalf of young people who are denied their rights under the IDEA. In the Court’s decision to allow the lawsuit to proceed, the Court wrote, “…the thrust of defendants’ arguments indicates a complete abdication of the responsibility that each one owes to the plaintiffs.” The Court also agreed that “incarceration should not have ended forever” the students’ “opportunity to achieve a high school degree.” The Court also denied both the BOP and DC's motions to dismiss as well. In dismissing BOP's motion to dismiss, the Court found that there is a property interest in FAPE and that BOP is denying our clients their property right without due process, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

    Without access to specialized instruction, students with disabilities will not be able to successfully reenter into their communities upon their release from a federal facility. This is a key priority for SJP and we are dedicated to ensuring that this practice changes and that students receive compensatory education for the time and services they have lost due to this unlawful practice. 

“SJP works to assist students with educational reentry services to ensure smooth transitions between secure facilities and their return to the community. “

- SJP Executive Director, Claire Blumenson