A local lawyer says Territory jails ‘prejudiced’ people with disability

A lawyer has told the Disability Royal Commission that Territory jails prejudiced people with disability often incarcerating them longer than they would be sentenced.

Harrowing details of people with disability inside the Territory’s justice system have emerged at the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

Northern Australia Aboriginal Legal Agency lawyer Megan Donahoe worked as a social worker in Australia’s children, youth and family sector for 20 years before becoming a solicitor specialising in mental health criminal matters.

During a series of public hearings in Perth, Ms Donahoe gave evidence that people, particularly with cognitive disability, face extreme levels of “prejudice” when inside Territory’s prisons and courts.

Many of her clients have English as a “second or third language” and there is limited access to interpreters who are a casualised workforce in the NT, she told Commissioners.

“If there is no interpreter available (court can be) adjourned … I’ll try to speak to (my client) on the phone and let them know what is happening but it is always difficult to really know if they are comprehending what is happening,” she said.

“That (the shortage in interpreters) can delay proceedings which can end up being quite prejudice if they end up serving more time than they would otherwise be sentenced.”

Ms Donahoe said prison systems had limited screening for disability and often relied on the client to self-report.

She also explained that Darwin Correctional facility ran a Complex Behavioural Unit but demand outweighed access.

“I have clients that have been in CBU but aren’t at the moment, and that is a capacity issue,” she said.

“We have a huge proportion of clients that would also benefit from that service – that are considered to have quite high needs – but don’t meet (the) threshold.”

“They can get lost in the general prison population.”

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES WITH ACCESS TO NDIS IN THE NT?

Ms Donahoe stepped the commissioners through the convoluted process of having clients assessed for the National Disability Insurance Scheme while they were incarcerated.

“For clients that have a cognitive or suspected cognitive disability it really needs a neuropsychological assessment,” she said.

“To get a neuropsychological assessment you need a referral for that, I’m not aware of an easy way to do that through the prison.”

Ms Donahoe said the system for supporting clients to be assessed was limited by access to translators, time-restraints and NDIS assessment specialists’ availability.

“What we know is that clients who have better psychosocial supports are less likely to come into the justice system,” she said.

NAAJA lawyer Megan Donahoe gives evidence during the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

“We do work with a lot of clients that have very highly funded NDIS plans and they tend to do better when they have accommodation and post-release support.”

Commissioner Andrea Mason said the Royal Commission had heard evidence and examples of “hardship, cruelty, punishment, a lack of kindness towards people with disability and First Nations’ people with disability in the criminal justice system”.

She asked Ms Donahoe if she believed the Territory’s justice system was focused on rehabilitation or punishment.

“In my experience in youth and adults, the punishment factor is by far the most predominate factor,’ she said.

“The system is about punishment…the system needs to be trauma informed and have that way of thinking at the forefront.”

“Every approach taken should be trauma-informed and have that kindness. There needs to be that accountability because it is a very heavy system that is embedded in punishment.”

WHAT RECOMMENDATIONS WERE MADE TO THE ROYAL COMMISSION?

Ms Donahoe recommended Territory prisons introduce culturally appropriate disability services within the correctional facility.

When asked by Commissioner Mason what could reduce youth recidivism rates, Ms Donahoe again drew on her expertise in both child protection and justice systems.

“I would have to say one thing (to reduce recidivism) is intensive case management support, that is culturally appropriate and trauma informed,” she said.

“And really work with them to try and understand what their complex needs are. The one size fits all doesn’t work. There just isn’t the flexibility and it has to be a two-way street.”

Territory Families, who is responsible for Youth Justice in the NT, recently released a therapeutic model of care which it said would be its “operating philosophy”.

The plan said young people in youth justice experienced high rates of self-harm, suicidal ideation, addiction, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders.

“Up to 75 per cent of young people in the youth justice system are reported to have one or more psychiatric disorders,” the plan reads.

“Developmental and intellectual disorders such as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, autism spectrum disorders … are widespread with most young people expected to have at least one neurodevelopmental impairment.”

In an effort to address cognitive disability and tailor release plans for young people, the plan said an initial screening would be completed by a Youth Justice Officer in a “private space where the young person can feel comfortable” after arriving to youth detention.

In March, Territory Disability Minister Ngaree Ah Kit said First Nations people with NDIS schemes have struggled to spend their funding due to a severely understaffed sector and a lack of culturally appropriate services in the bush.

She said she was committed to ensuring NDIS participants in remote communities could remain on country while receiving the support they need.

Ms Ah Kit said there was a need to develop a different approach to how the NDIS could work better in remote and very remote communities.