Understanding and Reaching 
Formerly Incarcerated Survivors 
with Disabilities 

Allison Hastings and Kaitlin Kall 
Vera Institute of Justice 
September 22, 2020 



Introductions 

Allison Hastings 

Project Director 

Vera Institute of 
Justice 

Kaitlin Kall 

Senior Program 
Associate 

Vera Institute of Justice 



Agenda 

• 
National picture of incarceration, including the impact 
of incarceration on people with disabilities 
• 
Victimization experiences of people who have a history 
of incarceration 
• 
Barriers to services for formerly incarcerated survivors 
• 
Compounded barriers for survivors with disabilities 
• 
Promising strategies 

Incarceration in the United 
States 



Did you know? 

People with 
disabilities are overrepresented 
in U.S. 
jails and prisons. 


Photo Source: Los 
Angeles Times 



And. . . 

People who have an 
incarceration history 
have higher rates of 
victimization and abuse 
than people who have 
never experienced 
incarceration. 



Incarceration touches many lives in 
the U.S. 

Every day: 

• 
State prisons: 1,291,000 people 
• 
Federal prisons: 226,000 people 
• 
Local jails: 631,000 people 
• 
Other (immigration, youth, etc.): 152,000 
people 
= 2.3 million incarcerated people 



How are jails and prisons different? 

Jails 

• 
County, regional, private. 
Approx. 3,300 jails in the U.S. 
• 
People can serve time in jails 
while awaiting trial (pre-trial) 
or post-conviction 
• 
Post-conviction sentences are 
typically <1 year 
• 
Increasingly used to hold ICE 
detainees 
• 
Locations can be urban, 
suburban, or rural 
Prisons 

• 
State, federal, private 
(<2,000 prisons) 
• 
Typically hold people found 
who have plead or have 
been found guilty of felony 
charges 
• 
Sentences typically 1+ years 
• 
Locations can vary, but 
prisons are often located at a 
distance from metropolitan 
areas or in rural locations 

Jail incarceration disproportionately 
impacts people of color 


9 



Prison incarceration disproportionately 
impacts people of color 


10 



How many people with disabilities are inside our 
nation’s jails and prisons? 

• 
32% of people in state 
and federal prisons 
report having at least 
one disability 

• 
40% of people in jail 
report having at least 
one disability 


Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Disabilities Among Prison and Jail 

Inmates, 2011-12 (2015). 

Mental illness and incarceration 

• 
73% of women and half of men 
Serious mental illness 

in prison have a mental health 

in jail population vs. 

issue 

general population 

• 
People in jail have serious 
mental illnesses at a rate 4-6x 
higher than the general 
population 
• 
75% of people in prison with a 
mental illness also have a 
substance abuse issue 
Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mental Health Problems of Prisoners and Jail Inmates 
(2006); Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration’s Front Door: The Misuse of Jails in America (2015). 



Victimization Experiences of 
People who Have a History of 
Incarceration 



Most people in jail or prison were victims first 

In his study of 122 (107 men and 15 women) people who 
returned to the Boston area post-incarceration, Bruce 
Western found that prior to incarceration: 

• 
40% had witnessed someone being killed 
• 
Nearly half were beaten by their parents 
• 
1/3 grew up with family violence 
• 
16% reported being sexually abused 
• 
Half were seriously injured while growing up 
Source: Bruce Western, Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2018). 

Most women in jail have experienced 
sexual and/or domestic violence 

Histories of victimization 
are nearly universal for 
women in jail 

• 
86% have experienced 
sexual violence 
• 
77% have survived 
intimate partner 
violence 
Source: Shannon Lynch and others. Women’s Pathways to Jail: The Roles and Intersections of 
Serious Mental Illness and Trauma (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2012). 



Adults with disabilities are 2.5 times more 
likely to experience violent victimization than 
their counterparts without disabilities. 

Therefore, people with disabilities who end up 
in jail or prison were likely victims first. 

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Crime Against Persons with Disabilities, 
2009-2015 -Statistical Tables (July 2017). 



Many people behind bars experience 
sexual abuse during their incarceration 


Courtesy of Just Detention International 

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Victimization Reported By Former State 
Prisoners, 2008 (May 2012). 



Incarcerated people with disabilities 
likely experience high rates of 
sexual abuse and violence. 



What happens when people return 

home? 

Of the 122 participants 
Bruce Western’s 
Boston Reentry Study, 

1/4 had been 
threatened or attacked 
since returning home. 

“As victims, the respondents were 
shot, stabbed, beaten, raped, and 
molested. But even beyond the 
familiar roles of victim and offender, 
nearly all respondents reported 
witnessing serious violence, and all 
reported fighting in which the roles 
of victim and offender were difficult 
to distinguish.” 

-Bruce Western, Homeward (p. 80) 



Barriers to Services for 
Formerly Incarcerated Survivors 



Barriers to reporting and services during 
incarceration 


Courtesy of Just Detention International 

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Sexual Victimization Reported by Former State Prisoner, 2008 (May 2012). 



Even during reentry and 
after they have returned 
home, many victims do 
not get the services they 
need to heal. 



Barriers to accessing victim services 
during reentry 

• 
The language we use is not always the language 
formerly incarcerated survivors use 
• 
False dichotomy of “victim” and “perpetrator” 
• 
Stigma 
• 
Reentry services and victim services are siloed 
• 
Few trauma-informed service programs for 
victims/survivors who have an incarceration history 

Compounded Barriers for 
Formerly Incarcerated Survivors 
with Disabilities 



Barriers to reentry for formerly 
incarcerated people with disabilities 

• 
Reentry services are often not 
accessible and/or people with 
disabilities. 
• 
Stable housing that is affordable, 
accessible, and open to people 
with conviction histories is very 
limited. 
• 
Benefits such as social security & 
supplemental security income are 
often terminated during 
incarceration. 
“When a person is 
disabled and has a 
criminal record their 
discrimination is 
compounded by ever-
shrinking options. . .” 

-Access Living (p. 64) 

Source: Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, Access to Justice: A Cross-Disability Perspective on 

Reducing Jail Incarceration (November 2019). 

Barriers to victim services for formerly 
incarcerated survivors with disabilities 

• 
Services and materials related to victim services may 
not be in plain language 
• 
Forms and intake policies may not be accessible to 
people with disabilities 
• 
Communication barriers may be present (e.g., service 
providers lack understanding of Deaf culture or access 
to American Sign Language interpreters) 
• 
Stigma around disability 
• 
Victim services, disability services, and reentry services 
are often siloed 

Barriers to disability services for formerly 
incarcerated survivors with disabilities 

• 
Disability programs often draw a bright line between 
“victims” and ”perpetrators” 
• 
People who’ve been incarcerated are less likely to 
have formal diagnoses, which are often required to 
receive state disability services 
• 
Stigma of incarceration may be especially 
challenging for disability organizations because of 
longstanding concerns about protecting the safety of 
people with disabilities 

Promising Strategies 



Opening the Door to Healing 

Available on the National 

Resource Center for 
Reaching Victims website 

at: 

http://reachingvictims.org/ 
resource/opening-thedoor/ 




How can we open the door to 
healing? 

• 
Hire victim service providers who are professionally 
trained, trauma-informed, and comfortable working 
with people who have been incarcerated—and train 
current staff to develop related knowledge and skills. 
• 
Develop and nurture partnerships between victim 
service providers and reentry programs. 
• 
Adopt broader definitions and terms for victimization. 
Discussing victimization in terms of “people harmed by 
violence,” “anyone affected by violence,” or “survivors 
of trauma or harm” may resonate more with people 
who have been incarcerated, especially with men. 



How can we ensure greater access 
to healing and reentry services? 

• 
Increase communication access 
• 
Plain Language 
• 
Access to interpreters 
• 
Broaden thinking about people with disabilities who 
have experienced incarceration and violence 
• 
Rethink automatic disqualifications 
• 
Strive for holistic service provision 
• 
Increase capacity to serve formerly incarcerated 
survivors with disabilities 
• 
Train staff 
• 
Form partnerships with disability organizations 

Access to Justice: A Cross-Disability 
Perspective 



Recommendations 

• 
Increase storytelling and advocacy opportunities for people 
with disabilities who have been in the criminal legal system. 
• 
Train staff working in the system on a cross-disability 
framework so that they can identify and support people with 
disabilities. 
• 
Collect and share data related to people with disabilities in 
the system. 
• 
Invest in housing options that are affordable and accessible 
for people with a range of disabilities and to people who 
have a conviction history. 
• 
Expand Medicaid enrollment in jails. 

Questions? 



Thank you! 

Please complete or survey: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/97QYKKW 

Webinar materials are available at: 

https://vera.egnyte.com/fl/twxexDXYqW