Offenders with learning difficulties 'victimised'

By Katharine Quarmby

A new report by the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) has found that prisoners with learning difficulties and “disabilities” (which it defines as dyslexia, autism and communication impairments) face almost insurmountable difficulties within the United Kingdom’s prison system.

The three-year research project, No One Knows, guided by a group of offenders with learning difficulties and disabilities, contains a number of striking findings. Jenny Talbot, the author of the report, singles out three: prisoners are at risk of reoffending because their needs have not been identified; they cannot access most offender behaviour programmes, since these are not adapted for people with learning difficulties; and they’re more likely to be victimised.

The report also found that prisoners with learning difficulties were five times more likely to be subject to control and restraint (though the numbers of those in both groups were small) and three times more likely to end up in segregation. And many could not navigate through the system because they could not read, write or tell the time. They also had far higher rates of depression than the comparison group.

Talbot told Disability Now: “Given that so many prisoners have impairments and learning difficulties, why not start from that point and make prisons wholly accessible? For instance, all information could be delivered in easy read.”

Andrew Lee, from the user-led group People First, said: “The justice system for people with learning difficulties in general is pretty bad anyway and I think what is well overdue is training,

so that criminal justice professionals are aware of the issues that people with learning difficulties actually encounter in the justice system.”

Alison Giraud-Saunders and Janet Cobb, from the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, told Disability Now that they were also concerned that the healthcare needs of people with learning difficulties in prison were often not met.