This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz

Intellectually disabled people are exceptionally at-risk during incarceration. Intellectually disabled people in New Zealand often receive inadequate support from the public health system[1] and from the Ministry of Social Development,[2] and this results in many being incarcerated.[3]

Once incarcerated, access to healthcare and appropriate support – especially appropriate and safe social and living conditions – is significantly minimised.[4] This fosters an environment where incarceration serves not only to conceal inadequate support of the intellectually disabled from the public eye, but to exacerbate it. Incarceration of disabled persons as a substitute for adequate care meets none of their needs, instead effectively punishing them for being disabled.

Intellectually disabled people are overrepresented in prison populations. A 1998 study suggests that over 80% of New Zealand prisoners have sustained a traumatic brain injury, [5] and in the 2005 Prisoner Health Survey, 63.4% of prisoners self-reported a head injury.[6] A UNSW study suggests that intellectual disability severely impacts treatment and experiences at every stage in the Criminal Injustice System.[7] The researchers found that being more susceptible to peer pressure or experiencing impaired reasoning creates a higher probability of being arrested for criminal activity, heightens risk of assault or mistreatment while incarcerated, and impairs readjustment into society after release.[8] No conviction of an intellectually disabled person under the Criminal Injustice System can be separated from their disability. As such, the incarceration of intellectually disabled persons should be ended entirely.

[1] Human Rights Commission, “Disturbing Health Statistics on Intellectual Disabilities,” Scoop, 12 September 2013. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1309/S00056/disturbing-health-statistics-on-intellectual-disabilities.htm.

[2] J. R. Murphy, “Open Letter to New Zealand Ministry of Social Development,” J. R. Murphy Poet, 16 October 2014. http://www.jrmurphypoet.com/2014/10/open-letter-to-new-zealand-ministry-of-social-development/.  

[3] Lucy Warhurst, “Neurologically Disabled Overrepresented in Prison,” Newshub, 12 May 2016. http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/neurologically-disabled-overrepresented-in-prison-2016051219#axzz4FrXBSTC0.

[4] Beverley Wakem and David McGee, Investigation of the Department of Corrections in Relation to the Provision, Access and Availability of Prisoner Health Services, (New Zealand: Ombudsman, 2012).

[5] Tracey V. Barnfield and Janet M. Leathem, “Incidence and Outcomes of Traumatic Brain Injury and Substance Abuse in a New Zealand Prison Population.” Brain Injury 12, 6 (1998).

[6] Kirstin Lindberg et al., Results from the Prisoner Health Survey 2005, (Wellington: Ministry of Health, 2006), 121.

[7] Eileen Baldry et al., People with Mental and Cognitive Disabilities: Pathways into Prison, (Sydney: University of New South Wales, 2011).

[8] Ibid., 4