Characteristics of prisoners with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The findings confirm the presence of significant numbers of people with ID with high levels of mental illness in a male prison. Services across the CJS are required for this group, specifically, there is a need for raised awareness among those working in prison about ID and improved skills to recognise offenders with ID and address major gaps in current healthcare provision in prison.

Clinical Characteristics and Pharmacological Treatment of Individuals With and Without Intellectual Disability in Pre-trial Assessment—A Population-Based Study

“…In line with previous studies, individuals with ID were younger than non-ID individuals, had less often founded a family of their own, and had lower educational levels (27,29,43,55). Our results also suggest that the parents of individuals with ID more often had low educational levels (<9 years of education) than parents of non-ID individuals.…”

“…However, most developed countries have jurisdiction regarding offenders with mental illness and intellectual disability, where individuals deemed legally incompetent or unfit to stand trial are diverted to secure hospitals instead of being imprisoned (26). Bearing the risk of highly selected samples in mind, previous studies have suggested that offenders with ID are younger, and psychosocially at more of a disadvantage in regards to their familial and housing situations, qualifications, and employment, than non-ID offenders (27)(28)(29)(30)(31).…”

“…Focusing on offender populations, previous studies have suggested a higher rate of psychiatric comorbidity such as anxiety, personality disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and psychosis among individuals with ID compared to non-ID individuals (27,28,41,42), as well as significantly higher rates of behavioral and conduct disorders (43). However, looking more specifically at forensic psychiatric populations, psychotic disorders may not be overrepresented in individuals with ID (29,44).…”

Exploration of morbidity, suicide and all-cause mortality in a Scottish forensic cohort over 20 years

“…It is also acknowledged that individuals with intellectual disability represent a particularly vulnerable subpopulation within the prison environment, being subject to high rates of mental disorder 39 and possibly greater risk of suicidal ideation than the general population. 40 We propose that a contributing factor to this poor outlook is a lack of equivalence, equality and equity for people with intellectual disability within the UK prison system.…”

Designing Solutions for Improved Support within Health, Social Care and Criminal Justice for Adults with Learning Disabilities and/or Autism who Have Offended

“…In addition, alcohol or substance misuse problems affect roughly one‐third of people with learning disabilities in prison or forensic inpatient care (Browning, Gray and Tomlins 2016; Chaplin et al . 2017). Although substance use appears similar in prisoners with and without learning disabilities, the former group are less likely to report this as an antecedent to their offences, if they are indeed able to make this link (McGillivray et al .…”