Incarceration of People with Disabilities - Especially Those with Intellectual Disabilities
By H. Barry Waldman, DDS, MPH, PhD, Steven P. Perlman, DDS, MScD, DHL (Hon),
Rick Rader, MD, FAAIDD, FAADM, Allen Wong, DDS, EdD
From 2017 to 2019
• “Persons with disabilities were victims of 26% of all nonfatal violent crime, while accounting for about 12% of the population.
• The rate of violent victimization against persons with disabilities (46.2 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older) was almost four times the rate for persons without disabilities (12.3 per 1,000 persons).
• One in three robbery victims (33%) had at least one disability.
• Persons with cognitive disabilities had the highest rate of violent victimization (83.3 per 1,000 persons) among the disability types measured.
• Nineteen percent of rapes or sexual assaults against persons with disabilities were reported to police, compared to 36% of those against persons without disabilities.”2
In 2021, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the federal agency tasked with gathering data on crime and the criminal justice system, published a report that across the entire incarcerated population, approximately 760,000 people with disabilities were living behind bars, including 550,000 people with intellectual disabilities, (who were experiencing exploitation and harsh treatment).3
How do people with intellectual disabilities get involved in the criminal justice system? They, as well as those with cognitive or developmental disabilities, get involved as both victims and suspects/offenders more often than individuals without disabilities.
• Children with any type of disability are 3.4 times more likely to be abused compared to children without disabilities.
• In 2008, The National Crime Victim Survey found that people with disabilities experience higher rates of violence than people without disabilities.
• People with intellectual disabilities had the highest risk of violent victimization.
• Factors such as impaired cognitive abilities and judgment, physical disabilities, insufficient adaptive behaviors, constant interactions with “protectors” who exploit them, lack of knowledge on how to protect themselves and living and working in high-risk environments increase their vulnerability to victimization.
• Once in the criminal justice system, these individuals are less likely to receive probation or parole and tend to serve longer sentences due to an inability to understand or adapt to prison rules.4
Some common responses from those with intellectual disabilities that may affect their ability to protect their rights include:
• Not wanting their disability to be recognized.
• Not understanding their rights but pretending to understand.
• Being overwhelmed by police presence.
• Having difficulty describing facts or details of their offense.
• Being confused about who is responsible for the crime and “confess” even though innocent.
• Not be considered as credible witnesses, even in situations where such concern is unwarranted. 5
Note: People with intellectual disabilities are exempt from the death penalty. On June 20, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling prohibiting the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities.6
A Great Injustice
In our institutions of incarceration, we predominantly see individuals of color, people who are African Americans, Hispanic, new immigrants, and those with disabilities who were never diagnosed or addressed. These individuals are doubly disadvantaged, if they have a multiple minority status, the school-to-prison pipeline is almost a direct event.
“People with disabilities make up something like 19 to 20 percent of population overall. Reports find that over 30 percent of people behind bars have disabilities. How can that happen?
It really happened when young people who have dyslexia or executive function disorder, don’t get the diagnosis, don’t get the accommodations that they need and they deserve in school.
They wind up getting in trouble, getting suspended, dropping out of school, not getting the accommodations they need. They’re not graduating from high school and they’re getting in trouble very early.”7
Is Change Possible?
“The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Some 2.3 million men, women, and juveniles in the United States live behind bars.”8
Management of inmates with disabilities is carried out by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons. The following steps are carried out to ensure that the Bureau properly identifies, tracks, and provides services to inmates with disabilities.
• Sufficient resources will be allocated to deliver appropriate services to inmates with disabilities.
• Staff will be provided training in order to work with inmates with disabilities.
• Developing and implementing staff training on inmates with disabilities issues.
• Advising agency leadership on the needs of inmates with disabilities.9
The First Step Act (FSA), passed by Congress in 2018, prioritizes increasing and improving volunteer programs nationwide. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has established programs by encouraging volunteers to assist incarcerated individuals as they reenter the general society. “Reopening across the country (following CDC guidelines) volunteers with a variety of skills will be in high demand.”10
The Center for American Progress issued a 2016 report, “Disabled Behind Bars,” offering promising approaches for a smooth reentry for returning citizens with disabilities, including:
• “Accessible education and training behind bars, with coordination between state departments of corrections and vocational rehabilitation.
• Discharge planning well in advance of release that takes disability and health needs into account.
• Suspension, instead of termination, of inmates’ Medicaid benefits in order to reduce interruptions in health coverage.
• Access to needed supports prior to release by leveraging the pre-release application model for health care, nutrition assistance and using a model integrating Social Security disability benefits.
• Continuity of care policies to ensure that individuals are released with enough medication to get by until they are able to see a doctor, post release.
• Physical and programmatic accessibility at halfway houses, job-training programs, and other community-based reentry services.
• Revision of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s definition of homelessness to expand access to supportive housing for individuals leaving residential treatment facilities.
• Reauthorization of and increased funding for the Second Chance Act, awarding additional points to providers that include a disability emphasis across their services.
• Increased resources for civil legal services, which play a vital role in removing barriers to employment, housing, public assistance, and supporting reentry.
• Policies that give returning citizens a fair shot at employment, housing, education and training, and other basic building blocks of economic stability after release. Supporting successful reentry for people with disabilities.”11
Given the increasing awareness of the numbers of imprisoned individuals with disabilities, the associated costs, the rates of recidivism and government agency interactions are all essential steps in improving the future lives of imprisoned individuals with disabilities and the difficulties they face in the general public setting.
References
1. Giving Compass. Criminal Justice Available
2. Crime Against Persons with Disabilities, 2009–2019 – Statistical Tables
4. The rate of violent victimization against persons with disabilities (46.2 per 1,000 age 12 or older) was almost four times the rate for persons without disabilities (12.3 per 1,000).
6. Davis LA., People with intellectual disabilities in the criminal justice systems: victims and suspects.
7. PBS News: Prisoners with disabilities lack ‘scaffolding’ for success.
8. Ruh D, Eid N, et al. Prison reform, inmates with disabilities, cov-19 safety for all.
9. U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. Management of inmates with disabilities.