Edison v. Douberly
604 F.3d 1307 (11th Cir. 2010)
Plaintiff a prisoner in a Florida state prison, acting pro se, brought claims alleging violations of Title II of the ADA against individual defendants in their official capacities as employees of GEO Care Group. A private prison management corporation operating a Florida state prison. The district court dismissed plaintiffs complaint finding that GEO was not a public entity, and only public entities are liable for violations of Title II. Plaintiff contended that GEO was a public entity under section 12131(1) (B) of the ADA which defines public entity, in part, as an "instrumentality of the State." The court looked to statutory interpretation and determined that "instrumentality" was akin to the other words in the statute, which were "department, agency and special purpose district." Thus, "instrumentality" had to refer to a governmental unit, which GEO was not. A private contractor does not become liable under Title II merely by contracting with the State to provide governmental service and GEO was not liable in this instance as a governmental unit. (Judge Barkett dissented).