tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/aboriginal-people-with-mental-and-cognitive-disability-43089/articlesAboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability – The Conversation2015-11-05T19:04:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/492932015-11-05T19:04:35Z2015-11-05T19:04:35ZHere’s how we can stop putting Aboriginal people with disabilities in prison<p><a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/">Our research</a> shows how Australia imprisons thousands of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities each year because of a lack of understanding, and a dearth of community-based services and support. </p>
<p>It also shows what can be done about this shameful breach of human rights.</p>
<p>We have data on hundreds of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities that tells the story of their early and regular contact with police, courts and custody. And Aboriginal researchers in our team have spoken with Aboriginal people with disabilities, their families, communities and service providers in New South Wales and the Northern Territory so we can better understand their experiences. </p>
<h2>What will make a difference</h2>
<p>Based on that research, we are recommending these principles and strategies to underpin policy reform:</p>
<p><strong>1. Self-determination</strong></p>
<p>Self-determination is key to improving the human rights and well-being of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities. This means an <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/right-self-determination">ongoing process of choice</a> on matters affecting them, their families and communities.</p>
<p>Community-led knowledge, solutions and services to respond to the over-representation of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities in prison should be properly supported and resourced. And we must ensure the input of Aboriginal women on their needs and aspirations given their particular disadvantage and vulnerability in the criminal justice system. We also need better services for Aboriginal people in regional and remote areas. </p>
<p>Education and cultural competency for non-Aboriginal organisations and people working in this area is crucial.</p>
<p><strong>2: Person-centred support</strong></p>
<p>Person-centred support that puts Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities at the centre of their care and that’s appropriate to their culture and context is essential. People should be supported to make decisions about their own needs and recovery. </p>
<p>Disability services and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) need an overt strategy to support Aboriginal people with disabilities in the criminal justice system. This initiative should also cover the needs of people with borderline intellectual disability and fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD), who may not be recognised as having a disability but who often need targeted support so they don’t end up in prison.</p>
<p>Specialised housing, services and treatment options should be available in the community to prevent incarceration and improve well-being.</p>
<p><strong>3. A holistic and flexible approach</strong></p>
<p>A determined holistic and flexible approach to services for Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities is needed from a young age to avoid contact with the criminal justice system. Early recognition by maternal and infant health services, early childhood and school education, community health services and police is important. </p>
<p>Governments should provide positive and preventive support that allows Aboriginal children and young people with disability to develop and flourish. We need supported housing and case management options for people with cognitive impairment to help keen them out of the the criminal justice system. The <a href="https://www.portal.facs.nsw.gov.au/Guidelines/SourceDocuments/cjp_tailored_support_packages.pdf">NSW Community Justice Program</a> is a good example. It provides specialised intensive 24-hour supported accommodation to drop in support for people with an intellectual disability who have been in the criminal justice system. </p>
<p><strong>4. Integrated services</strong></p>
<p>Government and non-government services need to work in a more integrated way to improve referral, information sharing and case management, and to better support Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities.</p>
<p>Justice, Corrections and Human Services departments and non-government services should take a collaborative approach to program pathways for Aboriginal people with disabilities who need support across their sectors. All prisoners with a cognitive impairment should be referred to the public advocate of the state or territory they are in.</p>
<h2>Better practice and prevention</h2>
<p>It’s vital that Aboriginal understandings of “disability” and “impairment” underpin support for Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities in the criminal justice system. The particular experiences and perspectives of Aboriginal women should be central.</p>
<p>Better education and information on Aboriginal people with disabilities is needed for police, teachers, education support workers, lawyers, magistrates, health, corrections, disability and community service providers to help them understand and work with Aboriginal people with cognitive impairment, mental health disorders and complex support needs. </p>
<p>More resources are also needed for Aboriginal communities, families and carers so they can better support people with mental and cognitive disabilities.</p>
<p>Our data tracks the pathways of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities into early contact with police, courts and custody largely due to a lack of appropriate health, education, disability and community services. We heard about the racism and stigma faced by Aboriginal people with disabilities that drives the cycle of over-policing, under-servicing and incarceration.</p>
<p>This predictable path is preventable. Early intervention and diversion into holistic, therapeutic, culturally responsive, local community-based services are essential. These will enable Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities to live with dignity and support in their communities.</p>
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<p><em>This is the fifth in a series of articles by this research team. Click <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/aboriginal-people-with-mental-and-cognitive-disability-43089">here</a> to read more on the Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System (IAMHDCD) Project.</em></p>
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<p><em>Ruth will be on hand for an Author Q&A between 10 and 11am AEDT on Friday November 6, 2015. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth McEntyre was the Australian Postgraduate Award Industry recipient for the IAMHDCD Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eileen Baldry receives funding from The Australian Research Council, FaCS NSW, Dept of Justice NSW. She is affiliated with PIAC & CRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth McCausland is Vice-President of the Board of the Community Restorative Centre.</span></em></p>The predictable path into prison for Aboriginal people with disabilities is preventable. Here are some solutions.Elizabeth McEntyre, PhD Candidate in Social Work and Criminology, UNSW SydneyEileen Baldry, Professor of Criminology, UNSW SydneyRuth McCausland, Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481652015-11-04T19:03:49Z2015-11-04T19:03:49ZSupporting, not imprisoning, Aboriginal people with disabilities could save millions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98782/original/image-20151019-25138-vn0h0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Early support could save lives and allow Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability to live with dignity in their communities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/59152532@N05/14867882904/in/photolist-oDPMAG-yAbX-6dge6r-a7AE3h-VPCPe-yAaD-fuab9T-6N1FAn-yZmNEf-yZmNGu-zfVLuE-2cNAca-ehHtkb-zgYxLK-zhPHUZ-zfVLLb-yZmNt3-zcNrBe-yZnKtG-yZnKpJ-zeEAN5-aAGj8E-6bEJN-6bENp-6bENW-aAGjxd-8ULs5k-dPgjrr-8KLeyQ-yZsPn4-cvJs6L-4oepWC-8pxAFv-yk6v8x-zfVLQu-zfVLPC-zgYxG6-yjWLw7-zgYxwg-zgYxB6-yZsPoM-6MtNE1-ppMsw7-9z5Fp5-6bELL-6bEPq-6bENE-6bEMN-6bEKP-6bELZ">Yasmeen/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/48166/edit">imprisons thousands of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability</a> from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/">research</a> illustrates the huge cost of this practice – in both human and economic terms.</p>
<p>Most Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are not in prison for committing serious crimes. In our study the most common offences were theft, public order offences (such as offensive behaviour), offences against justice procedures (such as resist or hinder police officer, breach of bail) and traffic and vehicle offences (such as driving without a licence). </p>
<p>Aboriginal people with disabilities end up in prison because they are not supported early by specialised and community-based services. They are there because they’re from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds and from areas with no real alternatives to custody. Some are there indefinitely because courts consider them <a href="http://www.pwd.org.au/what-we-do/aboriginal-disability-justice-campaign.html">unfit to plead</a>.</p>
<h2>The cost of the status quo</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/">Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System</a> (IAMHDCD) Project draws on a data set of 2731 people who have been in prison in New South Wales, one-quarter of whom are Indigenous. We have data from police, courts, legal aid, juvenile justice and adult corrections as well as government housing, disability, correctional health, hospitals and community services. </p>
<p>This data allows us to track every time people have had contact with these government agencies over their lifetime. It has also allowed us to calculate what it costs the government to have this group managed mostly by police, courts, prison and hospital emergency departments. </p>
<p>The Productivity Commission estimates it costs <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2015/justice/corrective-services/rogs-2015-volumec-chapter8.pdf">A$290 a day</a> to keep someone in prison. </p>
<p>We worked with government agencies to estimate other unit costs, such as what it costs police each time they record an incident; each time someone appears in court; each time someone is admitted to an emergency department; and each time someone receives a disability service. We then applied these costs to case studies of real people to calculate their lifetime <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/mhdcd-projects-studies.html">costs</a>.</p>
<p>Take, for instance, “Roy” – a 28-year-old Aboriginal man with an intellectual disability and a social personality disorder. He’s spent more than 1800 days in custody and more than 100 days in hospital for drug-related mental health and self-harm matters.</p>
<p>Roy’s contact with the criminal justice system from a young age is connected to his cognitive impairment. He left school at 13 and had his first contact with police soon after, when he was picked up for shoplifting and confessed. He then had increasingly regular contact with police. His brothers and friends often gave his name to police as an alias. </p>
<p>Just after he turned 18, Roy was picked up by police on a train without a ticket and under the influence of drugs. He was soon well known to police in inner city Sydney for begging and living on the streets. He was often admitted to emergency hospital departments due to his worsening mental health. He cycled in and out of prison on charges of theft, possession of illicit drugs, resisting arrest, assaulting police and breaches of bail. </p>
<p>We calculated Roy’s costs to government at age 30 to be almost $2 million. He has cost almost $400,000 in police resources alone. Roy’s court appearances add up to more than $100,000. His imprisonment costs amount to almost $900,000. </p>
<p>The contact with government agencies amounted to millions of dollars for each case study of an Aboriginal person we looked at. For one young woman from regional NSW, “Casey”, the cost was $5.5 million by the time she was 21. </p>
<p>By far the largest chunk of these costs are from regular contact with police, emergency hospital admissions, court appearances and prison. </p>
<h2>Failure and correction</h2>
<p>We have failed to care for and protect this group of vulnerable, disadvantaged children and adults. A lack of appropriate early intervention or services in the community has led to a predictable cycle of imprisonment. </p>
<p>The human costs of managing Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability via the criminal justice system are devastating. But the economic costs to governments are also significant. </p>
<p>Such costs only increase over time, as people become stuck in the system and are further disadvantaged. A lifetime of prison and crisis supports can be as high as <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/Cost%20benefit%20analysis.pdf">$1 million per year</a> for some people with complex support needs. </p>
<p>Our research shows that there would be great human and economic benefit in investing as early as possible in holistic, therapeutic, culturally responsive, community-based support.</p>
<p>We could have both saved money and improved Roy’s well-being, for instance, by providing him as well as his family with early intensive case management support services, housing, and a disability support pension. We have estimated – conservatively – that the government could have saved more than <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/Cost%20benefit%20analysis.pdf">$350,000 by time Roy turned 30</a>.</p>
<p>There’s growing support across Australia for initiatives that reinvest funds going to imprisoning Aboriginal people into <a href="http://www.justreinvest.org.au/">community-driven solutions</a>. Such initiatives have the potential to deliver more than money; they could save lives and allow Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability to live with dignity and support in their communities.</p>
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<p><em>This is the fourth in a series of articles by this research team. Click <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/aboriginal-people-with-mental-and-cognitive-disability-43089">here</a> to read more on the Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System (IAMHDCD) Project.</em></p>
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<p><em>Ruth will be on hand for an Author Q&A between 10 and 11am AEDT on Friday November 6, 2015. Post your questions in the comments section below.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth McCausland is Vice-President of the Board of the Community Restorative Centre. </span></em></p>Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are managed mostly by police, courts, prison and hospitals. It’s costing us millions, when kinder and cheaper alternatives exist.Ruth McCausland, Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/492942015-11-03T19:04:31Z2015-11-03T19:04:31ZAboriginal people with disabilities get caught in a spiral of over-policing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99776/original/image-20151027-18424-76jztk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police often don't recognise that someone has an intellectual disability or brain injury due to a lack of training in this area, researchers have heard.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yewenyi/2435149012/in/photolist-4HbLXN-33XyLo-8Mb678-5BzVdG-4HSG7E-4weWvM-8NPnG9-8UaiRJ-4rSscV-ncgJmV-nciQ2s-7BxMEC-8NURda-sHrFM-tb7thg-djKMJN-uC4XET-32kAj9-ak4z6t-8XtctV-992LiP-99rVL-8Meivj-cAKL6L-d13fk7-5AafsC-7BtY3n-7BtYne-iLzhDv-svzMG-8SydYE-t95PGF-33XDEy-6f8cFd-8Uaeqb-55Wptv-6wcALb-bbmL3D-3KhiUf-87Lsa6-4okqU-8Me5gw-8NFXu5-33XxXJ-svzR3-nae8Ho-34fiMH-wtCh5-iLDopG-995TRJ">Brian Yap (葉)/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Police have become the default frontline response to Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities. In the absence of culturally responsive and therapeutic community-based support, regular police contact from a young age sets this group up for a lifetime of “management” by the criminal justice system.</p>
<p>We visited Aboriginal communities in regional and remote New South Wales and the Northern Territory as part of the <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/">Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System</a> project. We <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/sites/www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/files/u18/pdf/a_predictable_and_preventable_path_2Nov15.pdf">found</a> that police are often the first and only service to show up to a crisis involving Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities. </p>
<p>But people told us that police often don’t recognise that someone has an intellectual disability or brain injury due to their lack of training in this area. They often assume Aboriginal people are drunk or having a drug-induced mental health episode. This means police don’t respond appropriately, and an interaction can escalate quickly and badly. </p>
<p>Our study shows Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities have frequent contact with police from a younger age than non-Aboriginal people with disabilities. Their age of first contact with police was 3.4 years younger than the non-Aboriginal people in our study. </p>
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<p>Aboriginal people in our study had a higher rate of contact with police than non-Aboriginal people, both as a victim and an offender. This was the case for women in particular. Many Aboriginal people told us they felt poorly treated and targeted by police. </p>
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<p>Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities can have long histories of offending, often as a result of behaviour connected with their disability. Common among Aboriginal people in our study, for instance, were charges for offences such as offensive language or behaviour, resisting or hindering a police officer, or breaching bail conditions. </p>
<p>People told us that these histories then become used to justify police “hyper-surveillance” of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities. Even when they are the victims, police often view this group as offenders. One Aboriginal health worker told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>When they do start out in the jail system and they get themselves a record, nothing is ever in the past. So how can you get help, do the right thing, get your life on track when as soon as the police see them they start harassing them?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal people see this kind of negative over-policing as evidence of systemic racism. They highlight the stark contrast between high levels of funding for police in their towns and a lack of funding for Aboriginal community-based mental health and disability services. </p>
<p>One remote NSW town we visited has a long history of poor relations between police and the Aboriginal community. Its population is 2300 people, about 1000 of whom are Aboriginal. There are more than 40 police already based in the town. And the police station has recently had a $16 million upgrade and its police cells expanded to hold more people.</p>
<p>Elders told us that there had been no prior liaison with the local Aboriginal community about this upgrade. Earlier this year, they wrote to the then-NSW attorney-general and justice minister about this. They raised the lack of mental health services and growing numbers of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system with mental and cognitive disabilities – women in particular – as a matter of great concern to the Elders, families and the community. They’re still waiting for a response.</p>
<p>The way police approach Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities needs to change, one disability worker told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We had two particular young coppers, straight out of the academy, full of their own importance and new-found power, who used to badger and stalk my client [who has an intellectual disability] … They went slowly slowly past him, then sped around the block, then slowly slowly passed him, then sped around the block, five times. To the point that he got so frustrated he picked up a handful of rocks and threw it at them and told them to piss off. So they then pulled in to arrest him for throwing rocks, then they pushed him against the paddy-wagon that hard that they made the dint in the paddy-wagon, and were going to charge him with [malicious damage].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities have violent interactions with police. One Aboriginal community member told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She was off her medication at that time too, pregnant, and she was confronted by the police and she became irrational in that situation. I don’t think the police over here have learnt how to deal with people with mental illness appropriately. So she became irate, they then dragged her into the police station and took her down in the foyer because, well, their excuse was the way she was acting.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also heard examples of police officers trying to assist young Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities to get support from human services. But a dire lack of culturally responsive, therapeutic community-based options means that police become default <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Policing-and-the-Mentally-Ill-International-Perspectives/Chappell/9781439881163">“care managers”</a> and start to manage this group as offenders from a young age.</p>
<p>Greater understanding, accountability and community-police collaboration is urgently needed to build more positive approaches and alternatives to supporting Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities in their communities. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is the third in a series of articles by this research team. Click <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/aboriginal-people-with-mental-and-cognitive-disability-43089">here</a> to read more on the Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System (IAMHDCD) Project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth McCausland is Vice-President of the Board of the Community Restorative Centre.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eileen Baldry receives funding from The Australian Research Council, FaCS NSW, Dept of Justice NSW. She is affiliated with PIAC & CRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth McEntyre was the Australian Postgraduate Award Industry recipient for the IAMHDCD Project.</span></em></p>Police have become the default frontline response to Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities, setting this group up for a lifetime of ‘management’ by the criminal justice system.Ruth McCausland, Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyEileen Baldry, Professor of Criminology, UNSW SydneyElizabeth McEntyre, PhD Candidate in Social Work and Criminology, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481672015-11-02T19:09:37Z2015-11-02T19:09:37ZHow Aboriginal women with disabilities are set on a path into the criminal justice system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99756/original/image-20151027-18421-vmsxb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The needs of Aboriginal women with disabilities are not being met by any human service system, research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sidkid/2262628776/in/photolist-4rWyGY-4rSvfV-4rWynA-woExdt-vrDgUy-yk5R7W-rW6UCb-pKXnYZ-xxxZMF-wLRzuu-xG5xAd-5dg9Ps-pXvVpw-p8jnMu-p7AJ7k-pcHLZg-6EXXuc-q4kszv-p7AHJg-3cRWbs-iurEh-3cRW8N-7Ayo43-qDQsn9-3U2de7-3cMwZV-a7GNkN-MJ83p-4u6hFj-bHis1T-2CHYh-8rnWtD-bjc5t8-4Hesme-4kS1Y8-a7GNhh-XAEmY-kAYajh-ao5MLr-ordtU4-5MvCKH-aU8YBv-dH1Q5a-7wXyK-iurMJ-5twT2k-aN2co-cBpZ1U-7ys1TT-fgRKdg">sidkid/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Aboriginal women only make up between <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/3238.0.55.001">2% and 3%</a> of the Australian female population. But the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women entering prison has <a href="http://anj.sagepub.com/content/47/2/276">soared</a> from 21% of all women prisoners in 1996, to a record high of 35% in 2014. In the past year, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women prisoners has increased again by <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4512.0">6%</a> – a higher growth rate than for other women, and for Aboriginal men. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/">Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System</a> (IAMHDCD) project, which draws on a vast dataset of 2731 people who have been in prison in NSW, <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/a-predictable-and-preventable-path-iamhdcd-report.html">shows</a> just how badly the system has failed Aboriginal women.</p>
<p>We tracked this group’s contact with police, courts, legal aid, juvenile justice and adult corrections, government housing, disability, hospitals and community services. We found that Aboriginal women with mental and cognitive disabilities were the most disadvantaged of those in our study, and the situation is worsening.</p>
<h2>A grim picture</h2>
<p>Aboriginal women in the group we <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/a-predictable-and-preventable-path-iamhdcd-report.html">studied</a> were 3.7 times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to have been in out-of-home care as children. </p>
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<p>Our data showed that Aboriginal women with mental and cognitive disabilities had their first police contact at a younger age and had a significantly higher number of police contacts across their lives than non-Aboriginal women. </p>
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<p><br></p>
<p>Over their lifetimes, Aboriginal women have significantly higher numbers of convictions, with Aboriginal women in the group we studied having, on average, 23 convictions over their lifetime compared to 15.2 for non-Aboriginal women.</p>
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<p>We found Aboriginal women were 2.4 times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to have been in custody as juveniles. Aboriginal women also had, on average, 8.5 remand episodes over their lifetime; non-Aboriginal women had, on average, 5.4 remand episodes over their lifetime. </p>
<p>Aboriginal women in the group had been in adult prison an average of ten times over their lifetime, compared with their non-Aboriginal counterparts who averaged six prison terms.</p>
<p>Compared to Aboriginal men and non-Aboriginal women, Aboriginal women have more complex needs. That means poorer mental health and well-being, as well as cognitive impairment, including intellectual disability and acquired brain injury. They are also more likely to have multiple disabilities and health problems.</p>
<p>Our data showed that Aboriginal women are 2.2 times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to be homeless at some point in their life. They were likely to have moved more often than their non-Aboriginal peers but lived in a smaller number of towns and suburbs.</p>
<p>Aboriginal women in our study were recorded by police as victims of crime an average of 23 times in their lives. For non-Aboriginal women, the number of reports as victims of crime was 16. </p>
<h2>Seeing it first hand</h2>
<p>Data is one thing. But it was only by interviewing Aboriginal women, hearing their stories and seeing the human impacts that we were able to get a better grip on why these patterns were emerging. </p>
<p>The interviewees shared a lot of knowledge with us about their lives and their experiences. Most of the Aboriginal women interviewed had multiple and complex support needs, and had been in prison, were at risk of going to prison, or were already in prison.</p>
<p>One Aboriginal woman who was imprisoned in the Northern Territory, far from her country and family support, had such an extreme intellectual disability that she had no awareness of her earliest release date. She had very little capacity to access disability support services after release into the community. </p>
<p>Another Aboriginal woman who had mental illness and cognitive disability had been remanded in a NSW prison for more than 12 months. While in custody, she was being cared for by an older Aboriginal woman prisoner suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by violence, and mental and emotional abuse from intimate partners. </p>
<p>A younger Aboriginal woman in her mid-20s who had been diagnosed with brain damage from inhaling petrol as a teenager had been detained as a juvenile and imprisoned as an adult four times. </p>
<p>It is clear these Aboriginal women’s needs are not being met by any human service system; they are landing in the criminal justice system because of serious policy and service gaps. </p>
<h2>Getting worse</h2>
<p>Australia has a poor record when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their contact with criminal justice systems.</p>
<p>We’ve had a few <a href="http://www.correctiveservices.qld.gov.au/Publications/Corporate_Publications/Strategic_Documents/women_offenders_action_plan_2008_2012.pdf">reviews</a>, like the 1985 <a href="http://csa.intersearch.com.au/csajspui/bitstream/10627/632/1/Women%20task%20force%20March1985.pdf">NSW Women in Prison Task Force</a> and the NT’s Addressing the Needs of Female Offenders in Prison: Policy and Action Plan 2007-2012. Five of the 339 recommendations of the <a href="http://www.alrm.org.au/information/General%20Information/Royal%20Commission%20into%20Aboriginal%20Deaths%20in%20Custody.pdf">Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody National Report</a> referred to Aboriginal women. </p>
<p>These reviews have highlighted areas in need of improvement to better respond to the needs of Aboriginal women. These include police relations, access to Aboriginal Legal Services, courts and sentencing, bail applications, services provided in prison, access to probation and parole and post release care, as well as Aboriginal women-driven research.</p>
<p>Early intervention and diversion into holistic, therapeutic, culturally responsive, community-based support, case management support services, housing support and disability support pensions could help break the cycle of imprisonment for many of these women. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is the second in a series of articles by this research team. Click <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/aboriginal-people-with-mental-and-cognitive-disability-43089">here</a> to read more on the Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System (IAMHDCD) Project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth McEntyre was the Australian Postgraduate Award Industry recipient for the IAMHDCD Project. </span></em></p>Research suggests serious problems with the way Aboriginal women, particularly those with mental and cognitive disabilities, are “managed” by the criminal justice system.Elizabeth McEntyre, PhD Candidate in Social Work and Criminology, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/481662015-11-01T19:10:56Z2015-11-01T19:10:56ZWhy Aboriginal people with disabilities crowd Australia’s prisons<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99775/original/image-20151027-18458-bfmipz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are 'managed' by police, courts and prisons due to a lack of appropriate community-based services.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/treslola/6368127913/in/photolist-aGJjyR-aGJdTt-aGJ6bx-aGJLFi-aGJabe-aGJTYc-aGJzNH-aGJ3Ea-aGJokp-aGJszc-aGJX38-aGJter-aGJfG8-aGJRCM-aGK7Fv-aGK1mr-aGJxop-aGK5BD-aGJbZX-aGJrTg-aGJNKF-aGJEm2-aGK3g2-aGJmwn-wK7jbw-wv4JVN-wMEApR-sccPz3-srUNtf-scCv7m-wt7Bo9-vNVFM4-wtffNg-9NAsCc-wtn8Gt-rxcdBE-97tA6K-rrwjr2-scCu8s-sub3YF-wt9Dih-vNQ6oA-7BtXTi-vNKvQS-wtbpJS-vNsNGS-2tkwWA-7BtY3n-7BtYne-aGevrn">Kate Ausburn/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia imprisons thousands of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability each year. A widespread lack of understanding – and action – underpins this shameful breach of human rights.</p>
<p>The number of people in Australian prisons recently reached an all time high of 33,791, with 27% or 9,264 of those prisoners <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4517.0">identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander</a>. People with mental and cognitive disability who are poor, disadvantaged, and Aboriginal are overrepresented in this increase.</p>
<p>To clarify, mental disabilities include disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, personality disorders and psychosis. People can experience these for a short time or throughout their lives. While cognitive disability covers impairments such as intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, dementia and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). These are ongoing impairments in comprehension, reason, judgement, learning or memory. </p>
<h2>A predictable path</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/sites/www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/files/u18/pdf/a_predictable_and_preventable_path_2Nov15.pdf">study</a> we released today shows how Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are being “managed” by police, courts and prisons due to a dire lack of appropriate community-based services and support. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mhdcd.unsw.edu.au/">Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System (IAMHDCD) Project</a> draws on a unique data set of 2,731 people who’ve been imprisoned in New South Wales, which holds <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/custody/Q22015Custodyreport.pdf">more than a third</a> of Australia’s prison population. A quarter of people in the data set are Indigenous. </p>
<p>Throughout this article, we use “Indigenous” to match government data collection terms, and “Aboriginal” in our study findings to reflect the preference of the communities we worked with. </p>
<p>Our study includes data from police, courts, legal aid, juvenile justice and corrective services as well as government housing, disability, health and community services. The data shows that Indigenous people experience earlier and greater contact with the criminal justice system and are more disadvantaged generally than non-Indigenous people with mental and cognitive disabilities.</p>
<p>Aboriginal researchers in our team also spoke with Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability, their families, communities and service providers in four sites across NSW and the Northern Territory so we could better understand their experiences.</p>
<p>We found Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are forced into the criminal justice system early in life. Coming from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, they receive little support from community and disability services or the education system. </p>
<p>These people are often seen as badly behaved or too hard to control, and left to police to manage. While this also applies to non-Indigenous people with disability from disadvantaged backgrounds, we found it’s much more serious for Indigenous people. </p>
<p>Indigenous people in the group we studied were 2.6 times more likely to have been in out-of-home care as children. </p>
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<p>Their age of first contact with police was 3.4 years younger than non-Indigenous people, and they had a higher rate of contact with police as both victim and offender. </p>
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<p>Indigenous people were 2.4 times more likely to be in juvenile justice custody than non-Indigenous people. </p>
<p>And they had higher numbers and rates of convictions and more episodes of remand in prison (unsentenced). </p>
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<p>Indigenous people had higher rates of hospital admissions and were 1.2 times more likely to have been homeless – in a group with very high rates of homelessness generally. </p>
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<p>Those with complex needs (multiple diagnoses and disability) – particularly women – were the most disadvantaged. And Indigenous people from highly disadvantaged areas, especially regional and remote areas, fared the worst.</p>
<h2>Four key drivers</h2>
<p>Our research shows four major issues underlie these shocking statistics:</p>
<p><strong>1. People don’t understand what cognitive disability is</strong></p>
<p>Families, service workers, teachers, police, lawyers and magistrates don’t understand enough about cognitive impairment. They often think cognitive impairment and mental illness are the same. People with cognitive impairment, for instance, are often dealt with under mental health laws. </p>
<p>But imprisonment has serious consequences for people with cognitive impairment. People with FASD face difficulties due to low levels of understanding and diagnosis, as do those with borderline intellectual disability, because they are not recognised as having a disability by services and may not be supported by the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). </p>
<p><strong>2. High levels of stress in some Aboriginal communities</strong></p>
<p>Aboriginal communities are under a great deal of stress from socioeconomic disadvantage, loss, grief and trauma. This comes from generations of Aboriginal people experiencing dispossession, racism, forcible removal of children, poor education and health care, overcrowded housing, early deaths of family and community members, over-policing, and high rates of incarceration.</p>
<p><strong>3. Many Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system have ‘complex support needs’</strong> </p>
<p>Aboriginal people with more than one type of impairment or disability are <a href="http://www.lawreform.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/report_135_final.pdf">more likely</a> to be involved in the criminal justice system. Families and communities are overwhelmed, and services are not set up to provide the kind of specialist support needed by people who experience multiple mental and cognitive disabilities, as well as drug and alcohol dependency. </p>
<p>Different diagnoses and disorders can become meshed together and masked by each other (this is known as “complex support needs”). It’s difficult for Aboriginal people with complex support needs to get appropriate help because services often focus on only one area – mental health, or intellectual disability, or drug and alcohol rehabilitation – and also because of racism and poverty. </p>
<p><strong>4. A lack of appropriate support for Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability</strong></p>
<p>From a young age, Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability are dealt with by systems of control rather than systems of care or protection. They can face discrimination on the basis of race and disability as well as having a criminal record; feel isolated and disconnected from family and community; and have limited access to appropriate community-based support options. </p>
<p>There are very few alternatives to prison and a lack of appropriate programs in prison or after release, particularly for those from regional or remote areas. And that makes return to prison very likely.</p>
<p>Our research found police and prisons have become governments’ default way of managing this vulnerable group rather than appropriately supporting them to have a life of stability and self-worth in the community. Australia’s imprisonment and re-imprisonment of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disability is not only shameful, it’s entirely predictable and preventable.</p>
<p><em>This is the first in a series of articles by this research team. Click <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/aboriginal-people-with-mental-and-cognitive-disability-43089">here</a> to read more on the Indigenous Australians with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System (IAMHDCD) Project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eileen Baldry receives funding from The Australian Research Council, FaCS NSW, Dept of Justice NSW. She is affiliated with PIAC & CRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth McEntyre was the Australian Postgraduate Award Industry recipient for the IAMHDCD Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth McCausland is Vice-President of the Board of the Community Restorative Centre.</span></em></p>Australia’s high rates of imprisonment and re-imprisonment of Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities is not only shameful, it is entirely predictable and preventable.Eileen Baldry, Professor of Criminology, UNSW SydneyElizabeth McEntyre, PhD Candidate in Social Work and Criminology, UNSW SydneyRuth McCausland, Research Fellow, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.