Too often, the combination
of disability
due to a brain injury with a limited knowledge of support resources
may add up to significant jail time. In 2006, over eighty percent
of Minnesota inmates were reported to have Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI). Lisa’s story is sadly typical.
Lisa entered the Minnesota Corrections Facility in Shakopee in May
of 2007, after nearly seventeen years of domestic abuse and over 100
instances of head trauma with six confirmed brain injuries. From the
beginning of her marriage in 1991 to her incarceration, Lisa endured
having her head put through windows, being punched, slammed into cupboards
and pushed down stairs. Throughout that time, she lost consciousness
on several occasions and made many trips to the emergency room. The
resulting impact to her memory was enormous.
“I can read a book and not remember what I’ve read when
I’m done,” Lisa says. “So, I don’t read anymore.
It’s sad, because I used to remember. You could tell me a phone
number and I’d remember it for years and now I can’t.”
Lisa also experienced drug abuse at the urging of her husband. “My
husband used to make me do drugs because he didn’t want me calling
the cops,” she says. “But, what could I do? If I fought
him, it got worse. I just recently became very addicted. I’m
hoping it’ll get better.”
Until recently, incoming Minnesota inmates were not screened for traumatic
brain injury. This began to change in April of 2006 when Minnesota
was awarded a state grant from the Health Resources and Service Administration
(HRSA) to identify incidences of brain injury in correctional facilities,
build awareness of brain injury among correctional facility staff and
all persons working within the legal system, and address a system of
release planning that would assist a smooth transition back into the
community.
Among the first efforts of this new TBI in Correctional
Facilities project were inmate screenings in the fall of 2006; the
results were astounding. 82% of 998 male inmates were reported to have
TBI. These rates were consistent with findings from studies done in
New Zealand (86%), U.S. county jails (87%) and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons
(88%). In the summer of 2007, 100 female inmates were screened with
96 percent reporting a TBI. A screening of fifty juvenile males at
the Red Wing facility resulted in 98% reporting a TBI.
One of the goals of the TBI in Correctional Facilities project is
a re-evaluation of the intervention strategies used in situations involving
prisoners with TBI. By identifying offenders with TBI like Lisa at
the time of entering the corrections system, the potential for recidivism
is decreased. Offenders with an understanding of their disability and
the services available to them may develop a sense of self-determination
that makes the possibility of returning to past behaviors that much
smaller. Corrections staff equipped with the training and resources
needed to work with individuals with TBI will be able to develop intervention
strategies and systems that decrease the potential for infractions
among the prison population.
The TBI in Minnesota Correctional Facilities project is using its
findings to supplement the already effective systems the Department
of Corrections and Department of Human Services have for working
with offenders who have serious and persistent mental illness. The
project’s
developers, headed by the Interagency Leadership Council, include the
Department of Human Services, Minnesota Department of Health, Department
of Education, Department of Employment and Economic Development/Vocational
Rehabilitation, Disability Law Center, Department of Corrections and
the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota. As part of this grant, these
departments have been collaborating to develop educational programs
for correctional staff and presentations for correctional administrators.
So far, the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota’s educational
service has conducted thirty trainings.
Lisa faces an upcoming release this month. Previous attempts at
a work release program proved problematic as she was forced to return
to prison after less than a month. Lisa cites her brain injury as
a reason she finds it difficult to hold a job. “I can’t even
tell why I left some really good jobs,” she says.
With her husband now in jail, no home and her family having cut ties,
Lisa faces a difficult road. Housing is hard to come by for an ex-offender,
and memory and impulsivity issues only exacerbate the problem. But,
she has a goal.
“I want to get my kids back,” she says, referring to her
four children who are currently in foster care. “I have business
skills. I’d like to go back to school. Get a degree.”
One of the first contacts Lisa will have on release is the Brain
Injury Association of Minnesota. Her assigned resource facilitator
will help her identify the services and programs in her area to achieve
her goals. She also wishes to increase her understanding of her brain
injuries by participating in the association’s classes. ![]()
The author is on staff at the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota.
