Disabilities. Some people are born with them; others acquire them as they grow older. Unless one is wealthy or has excellent insurance, these disabilities can often be difficult to diagnose and treat.   But if one is a disabled person, particularly a person of color, or queer or an immigrant and

Here are some facts from Prison Policy Initiative:

  • 40% of state prisoners have a disability.
  • 50% of women in state prisons are disabled.
  • 23% of people on parole or probation have disabilities.
  • Between 1/3 and 1/2 of people killed by law enforcement have a disability.
  • Children with disabilities are 400% more likely to be arrested in elementary school.
  • 25% of people in state prison took special education classes.
  • Almost half of jails and prisons do not offer any special education classes.

Tens of thousands of people incarcerated in jails and prisons throughout the United States have one or more communication disabilities, a term that describes persons who are visually or aurally disabled, speech disabled or otherwise disabled in ways that affect communication.

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Because of doing a minimal investigation, the attorney did not discover evidence of Pye’s traumatic upbringing and intellectual disability. Pye grew up experiencing near-constant physical and emotional abuse, extreme parental neglect, endangerment and abject poverty. He battled severe depressive episodes and reported hearing voices prior to the killing. However, his mental disabilities did not prevent his receiving the death sentence.

The National Disability Rights Network studies have found that 65% to 70% of youth in the so-called justice system meet the criteria for a disability, a rate that is more than three times higher than that of the general population. Youth with disabilities are incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates. Also, at least 75% of youth in the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic victimization, leaving them at risk for mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. (ndrn.org/resource/orphanages-now-this-updated/)

Due to what is known in the legal world as “evolving standards of decency,” the U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed the death penalty as well as a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for those under 18. But these incarcerated youth could die in prison before they are paroled.