Support for people with a learning disability or learning difficulties – December 2013

The Prison Reform Trust has been working to try and improve support for people in prison with a learning disability or learning difficulties in prison since 2006. We know that people who have difficulty reading or writing often need more support with prison life. In some prisons, support is in place, for example prisoners might read or write letters for prisoners who cannot do so themselves. This can be good because without such help prisoners have missed visits and missed their canteen. However, care must be taken so that personal information doesn’t get passed round the prison by the prisoners who are helping.

Prison service staff may not have the time to support every prisoner who needs help. However, they are the only front line support available to prisoners. Prison service staff who took part in our research called No One Knows recognised this, and said that when prisoners can’t read prison information or don’t understand prison rules, this can lead to fear, vulnerability and bullying. Prisoners with learning disabilities and difficulties can be more isolated than other prisoners. This can affect their mental health, well being and confidence, as well as making it harder to make progress in a prison sentence.

Over the last few years, many prison staff have had awareness training in learning disability.  The prison officer entry level training also includes information about learning disability so all new officers learn about this. There are lots of organisations (such as Mencap and KeyRing) working with the prison service to help staff provide better support for prisoners with learning disabilities. There are lots of things the prison service could do that are straightforward. For example, prisons could have information available in easy read, and offer programmes and activities that have been adapted so that people with learning disabilities and difficulties can join in. Ideally, all information that prisoners need to know about prison life should be available in easy read. Lots of organisations including the Parole Board, police forces, courts and prisons are starting to put information into easy read.

In the last three years, NOMS has had the same action points in their annual plan. The first is to make sure that comprehensive screening is in place so that all prisoners with learning disabilities are identified. The second is to make sure that reasonable adjustments are made for all prisoners with learning disabilities. This hasn’t happened yet.

The first step is to find out who might have a learning disability.  In 2011, 26 prisons were using a screening tool called the learning Disability Screening Questionnaire. Prison staff were trained how to use the screening tool, and it takes about ten minutes to do the screening with each prisoner.  Now, the situation is more varied as some prisons are using this screening tool, some are using different tools, but most aren’t doing any screening at all. There is no national guidance for prisons and there is no standard system across all prisons. It’s important that prison staff know which prisoners might have a learning disability so that necessary support and reasonable adjustments can be made. We would like to see resources put into screening people to see if they might have a learning disability, and a standard process for doing this.

from insidetime issue December 2013