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Thursday, February 7th, 2019

Nearly 65% of prisoners at women’s jail ‘show signs of brain injury’

Author:     Frances Perraudin
Source:     The Guardian (U.K.)
Publication Date:     Tue 5 Feb 2019 19.01 EST
 Link: Nearly 65% of prisoners at women’s jail ‘show signs of brain injury’
Stephan:   This is an appalling story about women in British prisons, but I am sure, that a similar survey of women in American prisons would look much the same. American prisons even more than their British counterparts are punitive in nature, as compared to the prisons in Holland or any of the Nordic countries. The warehousing of human beings is a very evil and often profitable business. This story is also telling us how much abuse of women is present in British society and, by extension, I suspect, American society.

Domestic violence was blamed by 62% of prisoners at Drake Hall with a history of brain injury.
Credit: Mark Goddard/Getty

Nearly 65% of prisoners at a women’s jail may have suffered traumatic brain injuries at some point in their lives, a study has found.

Research by the Disabilities Trust and Royal Holloway, University of London, found that of the 173 women screened at Drake Hall prison in Staffordshire answering questions about blows to the head, 64% gave answers consistent with having symptoms of a brain injury. The symptoms of 96% of the women suggested that these arose from physical trauma.

The work adds to a growing body of research on the over-representation of people with brain injuries in the prison population. In 2012, a university of Exeter report described traumatic brain injury as a “silent epidemic”. In 2010 a study of 200 adult male prisoners found 60% had suffered a head injury.

Research has suggested that traumatic brain injury (TBI) could increase the likelihood of violent behaviour, criminal convictions, mental health […]

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