What happens to those who are severely disabled while in prison?
What happens to those who are severely disabled while in prison?
For some reason began going down a rabbit hole thinking about this. Let's say you are blind, and reliant on a guide dog, but end up in prison for a non-violent crime like possession of illegal drugs. Are you allowed to keep the dog? No, right? But if you are entirely reliant on the guide dog to perform daily tasks, how do you manage in prison? What about people who are seriously disabled in other respects, like wheelchair users or those missing limbs, or those with serious mental disabilities? I'm asking for answers both from countries that actually treat prisoners like humans and the US
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A lot of the time, they just suffer without the aid they need.
I varies a lot though, depending on where and what your disability is.
Wheelchairs do exist in prisons. Wheelchair users often use the ground floor cells.
People with guide dogs generally don't need them in the restricted environment of a prison because they can simply memorize the layout like they would their home. Guide dogs are for more dynamic situations usually.
Serious mental disabilities often end up in mental institutions instead of prisons, they're often found not criminally responsible for their actions.
Serious mental disabilities often end up in mental institutions instead of prisons, they're often found not criminally responsible for their actions.
do you have a source for this one
You hear about this in the news all the time for mental illnesses.
Dude tried to get help four times, failed, killed his mom, was found not criminally responsible and "The judge ordered that Raefe be sent to a psychiatric hospital. Such a setting will be his reality for the foreseeable future"
It also happens in terms of people with diminished capacity, but they're often found unfit to stand trial in the first place. Here's what happens with that in Canada for example. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/criminal-justice/prosecution-service/reports-publications/mentally-accused.pdf
But showing that it happens to one dude does not mean it happens "often". That's really anecdotal.
There's also a fair argument that a significant number of people in prison have undiagnosed mental disorders.
I feel like "often" is an overstatement. Replace that with "sometimes" or "occasionally", and I would agree.