Special Needs Offenders

Some are at risk of abuse from other prisoners and prison staff, due to prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory perceptions entrenched in society itself, which are more pronounced in the closed environment of prisons. Such groups may suffer from humiliation, physical and psychological abuse and violence, due to their ethnicity, nationality, gender and sexual orientation. Those under sentence of death institute a special category.

They have particular needs relating to the anguish caused by the sentence itself and the intense psychological distress caused by the isolated conditions in which they are held, often for years or decades. Most of these prisoners are, in fact, vulnerable due to more than one reason. They suffer both due to their existing special needs, which are intensified in prisons, and due to the additional risks they confront, stemming from their particular status.

Foreign prisoners, for example, currently make up over 20 per cent of the prison population in European Union countries and a few countries of South Asia and the Middle East. According to studies undertaken in a number of countries, 50 to 80 per cent of prisoners have some form of mental disability; racial and ethnic minorities represent over 50 per cent of the prison population in some jurisdictions. In many cases, prisoners may belong to more than one vulnerable group, which translates into a multiplicity of special needs and increased vulnerability.

Their numbers are likely to rise further in the coming years, adding pressure on the resources of community corrections, without criminal policies are rationalized and adequate investment is made in the increased application of non-custodial sanctions and measures to ensure that those who do not need to be excluded from society are not sent to community corrections in the first place, and those who need medical treatment rather than imprisonment are cared for in the community by utilizing community corrections program.

Fortunately, it is likely that the number of prisoners on death row will decrease, with an increasing number of countries abolishing the death penalty. However, with at least 20-25,000 people worldwide currently imprisoned under sentence of death, their special needs can not be ignored. The high proportion of vulnerable prisoners worldwide means that their special needs can not be considered as a marginalized component of prison management policies.

Therefore, while those undertaking penal reform should, as a priority, work towards the abolition of the death penalty and the reduction of the use of implicationment in the case of vulnerable groups, they should also aim to address the wide range of challenges relating to the supervision, care and protection of prisoners with special needs within legislation, policies and practices relating to the management of prisons. Comprehensive management strategies need to be developed, and mechanisms put in place to ensure that they are implemented, to guarantee that prisoners with special needs are treated in accordance with the requirements of international human rights standards, while their prospects of social reintegration are enhanced.

Pertaining to offenders with special needs the three groups I would like to focus on are: Offenders with Mental Health care needs, Offenders with disabilities, offenders who are ethnic & minorities. Prisoners with mental health care needs compose a particularly vulnerable group in prisons and have a complex set of needs relating to the protection of their human rights, including provision of appropriate mental health care.

Adequate screening and monitoring of mental disabilities is key to successful health treatment. In most systems initial screening, follow-up through the system during transfers and establishment of individual treatment plans are either evidence or non-existent. Offenders with existing mental disabilities are there before not identified on entry and left untreated in an environment that is particularly harmful to their mental well-being.

Most minority and indigenous prisoners are likely to have been disadvantaged in terms of work experience and education. Many will have been unemployed at the time of arrest. Therefore providing members of overrepresented groups with an opportunity to gain job skills and education should have considered a key component of their social reintegration requirements.

Source by Tiffany K. Foster