Call to test inmates for brain injury
The state's public advocate is calling for all prisoners to be
routinely checked for all cognitive impairments, including acquired
brain injuries and intellectual disabilities, when they enter
jail.
Colleen Pearce heads the independent body the Victorian
government set up to protect the rights of people with a
disability. She said it was critical to identify impairments early
on to ensure prisoners received effective support and to prevent
them from reoffending when released, because there were higher and
more severe rates of cognitive impairments in prisons than in the
community.
''Without [routine screening], people with cognitive impairments
can get trapped in a revolving door of endless contact with police
and prisons with attendant costs to the community and, worse, the
loss of their potential as contributing community members,'' she
said.
Fairfax Media reported last month that up to half of state
prisoners have an acquired brain injury, many undiagnosed.
Advertisement Neuropsychologist Rachel Hutchens said acquired
brain injuries, in particular, should be tested routinely. Dr
Hutchens was involved in a five-year study that developed a
screening tool for such injuries, which was commissioned by the
Department of Justice in 2009.
The study - conducted by La Trobe University and brain damage
specialist Arbias - estimated that 42 per cent of men and 33 per
cent of women in the prison population had an acquired brain
injury.
Dr Hutchens said the tool was more effective because it included
questions about not only previous assaults and car accidents, but
also alcohol and drug use, suicide attempts and overdoses.
''Those risk factors actually came out as being more prevalent
than traumatic brain injury and are currently being ignored as real
risks of causing acquired brain injury in the prison system,'' she
said.
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