By editorial
On July 30, the United States signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In doing so, it participated in a milestone event, the first new United Nations human rights convention of the 21st Century.
During the same week, several media personalities expressed concern over the extradition of British hacker Gary McKinnon to the United States, where he could face 60 years in prison for hacking NASA and Pentagon computer systems. The “LaborList” blog on Huffington.post.com reports that a variety of celebrities support a campaign to free him.
Jenny Talbot, writing at www.scotsman.com argued that difficulty in forming relationships, misunderstanding social cues and social naivety could make prison especially difficult for people like McKinnon. Just as in grade school, where social isolation leaves a child vulnerable to bullying, so too, someone who is “different” could be at greater risk of abuse by other inmates.
Unstated, arbitrary rules that are difficult to comprehend could pose additional challenges and the sufferer”s confusion could be misconstrued as defiance of authority. As Talbot points out, “Awareness training to help identify and support people with hidden disabilities is not generally available to criminal justice staff and as a result, the individual support needs of suspects, defendants and offenders are often not recognized let alone met.”
An extradition from the U.K. appears to have nothing to do with Lake County. But consider the finding by the 2008-2009 Lake County Grand Jury: that no mental health questions appear on the screening intake forms for the Clearlake Police Department”s temporary holding facility.
How many inmates with “invisible” disabilities are in the general inmate population at the Hill Road Correctional Facility because the initial intake form failed to screen for them? As Talbot points out, “Offenders with disabilities, especially those with hidden disabilities, are doubly punished.”
Consider too, the grand jury”s finding that grand jury complaint forms were unavailable to inmates at the Hill Road facility. Combine these findings and you have a potential human rights concern: inmates whose mental health challenges place them at escalated risk of abuse who are additionally denied access to the advocacy that the Lake County Grand Jury provides.
We believe law enforcement and correctional officials should immediately comply with grand jury recommendations and that this matter should continue to be scrutinized by the current Lake County Grand Jury.
You can read the complete Lake County Grand Jury report at www.co.lake.ca.us/Assets/Grand+Jury/Final+Reports/0809GJFR.pdf.
