Known as the school-to-prison pipeline, the disturbing national cycle of repeated school exclusion and incarceration affects an alarmingly high population of students. Struggling youth are often faced with punitive measures rather than support, driving the school-to-prison pipeline as these students are forced to drop out and abandon their education. Students with disabilities are especially vulnerable to school exclusion, facing stigmatization and insufficient accommodations. As a result, they are disproportionately represented in the school-to-prison pipeline, contributing to a new national phenomenon: the special-education-to-prison pipeline [1]. This paper investigates the current state of special education in the United States, analyzing the deficiencies in legislation that governs special education and asserting the necessity of offering early intervention and regular review of special education students’ progress. Given the impacts of early educational experiences on the future growth and development of special education students, legislation must effectively protect the rights of special education students and their families from the punitive measures that are currently in place. Overall, this paper recognizes the issues in the national special education system and argues for the need to advocate for reduced policing of special education students and increased implementation of evidence-based classroom support.