Report: Prisoners with Disabilities Subjected to Harrowing Abuse
Prisoners with disabilities are being locked in solitary confinement for prolonged periods, living in nappies, urinating in bottles and suffering physical and sexual abuse, including at the hands of carers, a damning new report has found.
A detailed Human Rights Watch investigation of 14 prisons in Western Australia and Queensland has delivered a scathing assessment of Australia’s treatment of prisoners with disabilities, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The report recorded harrowing accounts of rape and sexual violence.
It raised serious concerns about a prisoner-carer model that appoints inmates to look after fellow prisoners who have high support needs. In one prison, six out of the eight carers were convicted sex offenders, Human Rights Watch said. Researchers were told that one inmate with high support needs was repeatedly raped by his carer. The abuse was only detected when the inmate’s bloodied and soiled sheets were discovered during a cell search, according to the report.
In another case, an Indigenous inmate with a cognitive disability was sexually assaulted in a shower, only to be punished when it was brought to the attention of guards.
“He struggled to report it, but when prison staff found out they sent him to a detention unit, awaiting transfer to another prison,” the lead researcher, Kriti Sharma, told Guardian Australia.
“He was treated as a perpetrator instead of the victim.
“To add insult to injury, prison officers taunted him and joked about how his attackers were in the cell next door, which further traumatised him.”
Investigators spoke with 136 current or recently released inmates with disabilities, and more than 100 other experts, including prison staff, health experts, lawyers, academics, families, government officials and activists.