Transcript Sussex Western Youth Panel meeting

Butler Trust Workshop:
management and care of people with
learning disabilities who offend
Jenny Talbot
Prison Reform Trust
7 October 2014
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What I will cover:
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Film clip: Danny and Graham
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What is a learning disability and what does it
mean?
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Background/context and prevalence
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Specific issues; people’s experiences of the
criminal justice system
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Implications for justice, health and social care
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Research project (if time…):
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Offenders with intellectual disabilities and social care.
What is a learning disability?
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The World Health Organisation defines learning
disability as a ‘reduced level of intellectual
functioning resulting in diminished ability to
adapt to the daily demands of a normal social
environment.’
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An IQ of 50-69 is indicative of ‘mild mental
retardation’ or mild learning disability
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Variations on this definition are followed by the
four UK administrations.
Learning disabilities – so what?
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Limited language ability, comprehension and
communication skills:
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Limited memory capacity:
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Difficulty understanding certain words
Difficulty understanding and responding to questions
Difficulty reading body language and following social cues
Difficulty recalling information
Take longer to process information
Difficulty ordering and sequencing
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Can be acquiescent and suggestible; under pressure,
might try to appease others
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Frequently unable to read and write very well, or at all.
Background/context:
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Closure of long stay institutions
Home Office circular 66/90
Reed Report, 1992
Disability Discrimination Act 1995/2005
No One Knows, 2006 – 2009 (PRT)
Anne Owers ‘Kafka-esque’, 2008
UK Joint Committee on Human Rights
2008
Bradley Report, 2009 (review from 2007)
Autism Act 2009
Equality Act 2010
CJJI of the treatment of offenders with LD
within the CJS – phase 1, 2014
Care Act 2014.
UK Joint Committee on Human Rights:
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Expressed concerns about:
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“…the rights of people with learning disabilities to a
fair hearing, as protected by common law and by
Article 6 ECHR”
“…serious failings in the criminal justice system that
gives rise to the discriminatory treatment of people
with learning disabilities”
“We are deeply concerned that… because of a failure
to provide for their needs, people with learning
disabilities may serve longer custodial sentences than
others convicted of comparable crimes” (March 2008).
The Bradley Report:
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Review of people with mental health problems or learning
disabilities in the criminal justice system; 82
recommendations
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“The first step to the effective management of offenders
[with mental health problems or learning disabilities] is the
existence of good early identification and assessment of
problems, which can inform how and where they are most
appropriately treated.”
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Recommendation that all police custody suites and
criminal courts have access to liaison and diversion
services (Department of Health, 2009)
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NHS England, by 2017.
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection:
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Police:
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Courts:
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“Many detainees learning disabilities were not adequately
assessed or recorded
Appropriate adults were not always called even when it was
recorded that the detainee had a LD
Referrals were not always made to relevant adult care
services, leaving adults with LD vulnerable when released
from custody.”
“For someone with a learning disability, the court
environment and process is confusing and possibly
frightening
Specialist training… to ensure defendants with learning
disability are supported appropriately at court, was needed.”
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection:
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Probation/PSR writers:
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“The majority of reports and assessments were timely
and provided useful information to the court
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Reports and assessments failed to take account of the
likely impact of the offender’s learning disability on
their ability to engage with their order
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Offender managers gave too much weight to the
offender’s needs at the expense of possible risk of
harm factors.”
(CJJI on the treatment of offenders with LD within the
CJS - phase 1, 2014).
Prevalence:
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25% of children who offend have an IQ <70 (Bailey et al,
2005)
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60% of children who offend have communication
difficulties (Bryan et al, 2007)
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20 – 30% of offenders have learning disabilities or
difficulties that interfere with their ability to cope within the
criminal justice system (Loucks, 2007)
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7% of prisoners have an IQ <70; a further 25% have an
IQ <80 (Mottram, 2007)
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Between 5 – 10% of adult offenders have a learning
disability (slightly more than 2% of the general adult
population has a learning disability).
Specific issues, generally:
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Reading: four-fifths of prisoners with learning
disabilities had problems reading prison information
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Writing: three-quarters had problems with writing
and filling in forms
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Understanding: screening tool results showed that
around two-thirds had problems with verbal
comprehension
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Being understood: two-thirds said they had
problems making themselves understood (Talbot,
2008).
Experiences at the police station:
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I didn't know I was charged, they didn’t read me my
rights. I didn’t know what was happening.
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The way they looked at you was scary. When you go
up to the counter in the custody suite lots of people
watched and they read out your charge. People look
at you and then you are allowed to leave.
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There was a solicitor, one police lady and two other
people. I don’t know why they were there, police talk
maybe. It was somebody I didn’t know before I got in
trouble with the police. I didn’t know if it was
somebody who could have helped me.
Experiences in court:
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I couldn’t really hear. I couldn’t understand but I said,
“yes, whatever” to anything because if I say, “I don’t
know” they look at me as if I’m thick. Sometimes they
tell you two things at once.
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I sat behind the glass and there were three ladies
sitting there. I didn’t know what ‘remanded’ meant. I
thought it meant I could come back later.
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I am not good at speaking and they don’t listen. I
needed more time to explain myself.
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I understand that I have done something wrong, but
I’m still not quite sure as to what that is.
Specific issues, in prison:
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Prisoners with LDD were five times as likely to
have been subject to control and restraint
techniques than prisoners without such
conditions
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And they were three times as likely to have
spent time in segregation
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They were almost three times as likely to have
clinically significant depression or clinically
significant anxiety than prisoners without such
conditions, and many experienced both.
Experiences in prison:
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When I first came in I was petrified. The first one and a
half years were really bad. I tried to commit suicide three
times.
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You get a meal sheet but it comes through the door. You
have to hand it in before you get out of your cell and
loads of the meals I get aren’t what I want. Everything is
one big problem.
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I am a bit scared in the shower. Someone got raped in
the shower by eight lads and then two days later he killed
himself and that scared me. So now I feel nervous in the
shower.
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I don’t know how to use the phone; it’s that PIN thing isn’t
it?
Implications:
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Adhere to the principles of equality and inclusion
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Joint working and shared learning: justice, health and
social care (equality awareness and specific training )
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Information sharing
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Screening – knowing who needs support at the earliest
possible stage
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Ask those directly involved – experts by experience
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‘Pathways’: staff knowing what they should do; multiagency liaison; specialist referrals, where necessary;
timely provision; a different way of doing things?
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Leadership.
Offenders with ID & social care
(OFFSCA-ID):
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Study led by professor Glynis Murphy (University
of Kent and Canterbury and NHS National
Institute for Health Research) on the costs and
benefits of social care support for ex-offenders
with LD. Key questions:
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Does social care input affect the mood, behaviour and
quality of life of ex-offenders with LD?
What are the costs of social care for these offenders?
How does the social care input alter outcomes in
terms of re-offending?
Thank you
[email protected]
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk
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