Accessibility

It is the policy of the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) to maintain compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a Civil Rights Law which requires accessibility to programs, services, and activities to individuals with disabilities and prohibits discrimination. We provide an open and meaningful accommodations request process, which offers resolution to complaints and allegations regarding the ADA. In alignment with our agency’s mission, our goal is to offer equal access to all individuals in the areas of education, programming, healthcare, and beyond.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Coordinator’s Office, which is an entity of Legal Services, is located at the GDC Headquarters in Forsyth, Georgia. Within the great State of Georgia, the ADA Coordinator’s Office serves our offender population, staff, contractors, visitors, and citizens with documented qualifying disabilities in their encounters with our agency. We provide these services under the guidelines of Americans with Disabilities Act and its amendments (ADAAA), as well as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Please see the Public ADA Compliance Notice, which includes information about our ADA Accommodations Request procedure noted in SOP 103.63 and our Grievance Procedure process in SOP 227.02. Both policies are available in all GDC Law Libraries and on our public website.

Additionally, the GDC Office of Human Resources provides support and resource information for employees and applicants with disabilities. Services are available to ensure that individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to pursue employment in all aspects and have access to programs, services, and activities offered by our agency.

Web Accessibility

The Georgia Department of Corrections strives to eliminate barriers to content for visitors with disabilities by implementing requirements that allow for a more inclusive, accessible online experience for all individuals.
Examples of our efforts to improve accessibility include:

• Easy and logical navigation
• Access to information in a clear and consistent manner for individuals using screen readers
• Legible fonts and high-contrast colors for easier readability

The platform incorporates federally mandated Section 508 compliance standards and best practices recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) (Level AA) for web accessibility.
Some of these practices include:

• Color contrast accessible for those with low vision and color blindness.
• Text alternatives for non-text elements when necessary.
• Web pages that can be presented without an associated style sheet and will not lose information or structure.
• Identified row and column headers in data tables.
• WAI-ARIA labels applied for individuals using screen readers Accessible online forms allowing assistive technology to access the information, field elements and functionality required for completion and submission of the form.

GDC is continuously working to increase accessibility standards and meet all levels of accessibility conformance and guidelines.

If you wish to express any accessibility concerns beyond our technical assistance and support team, the Georgia Department of Corrections ADA Coordinator can be reached at the following address and phone number:

Thomas H. McElhenney, Director 
GDC/Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)/ LEP/SI Coordinator
Legal Services
ADA Compliance Unit

478-993-4737
ada.accessibility@gdc.ga.gov

Go to the Contact Us page and submit a written request. Select “Questions for GDC ADA Coordinator Office” from the drop down list.