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210 PENNSYLVANIA DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS v. YESKEY

Opinion of the Court

State prisons fall squarely within the statutory deﬁnition of
“public entity,” which includes “any department, agency, spe-
cial purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or
States or local government.”

§ 12131(1)(B).

Petitioners contend that the phrase “beneﬁts of the serv-
ices, programs, or activities of a public entity,” § 12132, cre-
ates an ambiguity, because state prisons do not provide pris-
oners with “beneﬁts” of “programs, services, or activities” as
those terms are ordinarily understood. We disagree. Mod-
ern prisons provide inmates with many recreational “activi-
ties,” medical “services,” and educational and vocational
“programs,” all of which at least theoretically “beneﬁt” the
prisoners (and any of which disabled prisoners could be “ex-
cluded from participation in”). See Block v. Rutherford, 468
U. S. 576, 580 (1984) (referring to “contact visitation pro-
gram”); Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U. S. 517, 552 (1984) (discuss-
ing “rehabilitative programs and services”); Olim v. Waki-
nekona, 461 U. S. 238, 246 (1983) (referring to “appropriate
correctional programs for all offenders”).
Indeed, the stat-
ute establishing the Motivational Boot Camp at issue in this
very case refers to it as a “program.” Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit.
61, § 1123 (Purdon Supp. 1998). The text of the ADA pro-
vides no basis for distinguishing these programs, services,
and activities from those provided by public entities that are
not prisons.

We also disagree with petitioners’ contention that the term
“qualiﬁed individual with a disability” is ambiguous insofar
as concerns its application to state prisoners. The statute
deﬁnes the term to include anyone with a disability

“who, with or without reasonable modiﬁcations to rules,
policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, com-
munication, or transportation barriers, or the provision
of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligi-
bility requirements for the receipt of services or the par-
ticipation in programs or activities provided by a public
entity.”

42 U. S. C. § 12131(2).