Brain injury and prison: over-representation, prevention and reform

People who have suffered a brain injury are significantly over-represented in prisons around the world. Compared to the general population, people in prison are more than five times as likely to have had a brain injury. Brain injuries may have multiple ongoing symptoms which lead to the commission of criminal offences and to inadequate presentation of defences. Police, lawyers, judges and prison staff are largely unaware of an inmate’s brain injury status. The silence of this unrecognised epidemic frequently leads to insufficient treatment and unnecessary and inappropriate disciplinary action. From the perspective of having had a severe traumatic brain injury, I recommend more systematic inmate screening and revision of the training given to police, lawyers, judges and prison staff. People who deal with prisoners should be trained in how to identify and manage the deficits caused by brain injury. Human rights litigation may also be a tool to meet the needs of brain injured inmates. People with brain injuries should not be punished and forgotten.