Recovery Michigan

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a huge “hidden disability” within prison populations in the US and the UK. Despite evidence that TBI can lead sufferers to be more violent and reoffend, there is a worrying lack of information about the extent of the problem and there is no standard screening process. At a time when there is huge concern about escalating prison population rates, is it not time this issue was addressed?

Prisoners who have had head injuries are more likely to experience a variety of mental health problems including severe depression and anxiety, substance use disorders, anger and suicidal thoughts.

Surprisingly, it is only relatively recently that researchers have started investigating brain injury within the criminal justice context. But those studies show higher rates of TBI within incarcerated populations compared to the rate found in the general population.

There appears to be just cause for concern regarding the rate of recidivism in individuals with TBI. This year researchers published the findings from their study which investigated the rearrest post release from prison among a sample of Indiana inmates who were screened using the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification (OSU-TBI-ID) instrument. Their findings revealed that those with TBI were more likely to commit crimes post release.