More than half of prisoners may have had a brain injury
Better treatment needed to help cut reoffending, say experts
HUNDREDS of prisoners in Scottish jails may have suffered severe brain injuries, leaving them unable to be effectively rehabilitated and more likely to reoffend.
Those affected include dozens of women prisoners who have been victims of domestic violence.
Others have neurological illnesses or brain injuries related to gang violence, or events in their criminal past, or childhood, which have often gone untreated,
MSPs investigating healthcare in jails have been warned such individuals are unlikely to benefit from programmes to cut reoffending, unless more screening and treatment is offered for their conditions.
The British Psychological Society (BPS) says approximately 60 per cent of inmates of adult prisons and young offenders institutions will have suffered a head injury at some point in their life, with 45 per cent having had an injury so severe it left them unconscious. This is about three to four times the level found in the general population.
Meanwhile, seven to 16 per cent have suffered a severe head injury – potentially hundreds of the current prison population of 7,742.
The Health and Sport Committee at Holyrood is investigating healthcare in prisons.
In a submission to this inquiry, the BPS calls attention to a report by the Glasgow-based National Prisoner Healthcare Network last June, which said anti-social behaviour could often be caused by brain injury but the symptoms may not have been obvious.
The BPS has called on the Scottish Government to implement the report’s recommendations, which called for better screening and much better provision of appropriate healthcare in prisons.
Tom McMillan, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Glasgow University, who chairs the network, said some people might not seek help for a head injury if they were involved in criminal activity, while some may discharge themselves early. But he said it was in the wider interest for offenders to have equal access to health services.
He added: “For women, some have probably been injured as a result of domestic violence. For others they may have been involved with drugs and alcohol or other risky activities, perhaps including involvement with gangs. We see a high prevalence of repeated head injuries too – for some people it is not just one, they collect them really.”
He said links with offending and recidivism are understandable. He added: “If you have had a serious brain injury your judgment may be poorer, you may be more aggressive or more likely to take risks. Some people lack the ability to plan ahead or problem solve. ”
There is a human rights case to be made if prisoners who have a higher risk of need are less likely to get treatment, Mr McMillan said, but also an economic argument. “An English study calculated the cost of someone who had a head injury and a subsequent 10 year criminal career was £250,000. Do we want to be spending all that money or should something be done about it?”
Scottish Conservative mental health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “If we can identify these injuries and brain trauma events at an earlierstagewecanthentailorhealthcare and support at prisoners, which has the potential to improve behaviour in prison and reduce the risk of prisoners reoffending.”
‘‘ 45 per cent of prisoners have been knocked unconscious, three to four times the rate in the general population