Deaf prisoners – suggested reading

Deaf people are often unfairly treated by justice systems.  English language research on Deaf prisoners or deafness in prison has tended to be in an American setting (see the list below).  The website ‘Limping Chicken’ has a story about a report from the Howard League for Penal Reform that redresses the balance.

Below is additional suggested reading on Deaf prisoners to be found in the Library.

ACKERMAN N J
Deafness and prisons: a study of services for deaf prisoners and the experience of being deaf within the prison environment.  1998, Unpublished dissertation for BA in Applied Social Studies, Oxford Brookes University.
RNID Library location: C6984 (REF)

BELENCHIA T, CROWE T
Prevalence of speech and hearing disorders in a state penitentiary population.  JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS,   1983,  16,  279-285.

BEBOULT J M
Hearing rehabilitation behind prison walls.   HEARING JOURNAL,  1986,  39(6),  7-13.

BOUNTRESS N, RICHARDS J
Speech, language and hearing disorders in an adult penal institution.  JOURNAL OF SPEECH AND HEARING DISORDERS,  1979,   44,  293-300.

BRYAN K, FRANCE J, KRAMER S
Communication therapy for the prison population.  BULLETIN (ROYAL COLLEGE OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPISTS),  1996,  529,  13.
This abstract of a paper presented to the Healthy prisons – a vision for the future conference, March 1996, mentions that “over 30% of offenders have a significant hearing loss, and a causal link is suggested between hearing loss and/or communication limitations contributing to school failure, social isolation and early involvement in crime”.

CROWE T A, BYRNE M E, MURRAY A N
Prison services: the Parchman Project.  ASHA,  1999,  41(6),  50-54.
Providing speech, language and hearing services to prison inmates at Parchman, Mississippi.

DAHL M
Hard-of-hearing inmates in penitentiaries. JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY,  1994,  18(4),  271-277.

Deaf people in prison. SIGN ON,  1995,  Dec,  (2-page centre insert in BRITISH DEAF NEWS).

Deaf prison visitors wanted. BRITISH DEAF NEWS,  1999,  Aug,  4.

British Deaf Association’s Deaf Prison Project calls for volunteers to train as prison visitors.

EGAN D
Deafness behind bars. SEE HEAR,  1996,  Mar,  8-9.
Features Nottingham Prison inmate, who was suddenly deafened at 35.

FISKEN, Robert
The deaf in prison.  1994,  The author.
RNID Library location:  C6607(REF), C6608

GERRARD, H.
A double sentence: deaf prisoners in the UK.  2000,   Birmingham Institute for the Deaf. Report on the Deaf Prison Project, referred to in: DISABILITY NOW, 2001, Aug, 7.
RNID Library location: C7228(REF), C7229

GAHIR, Manjit, O’ROURKE, S., MONTEIRO, B., REED, R.
The Unmet Needs of Deaf Prisoners: A Survey of Prisons in England and Wales. International Journal on Mental Health and Deafness, 2011; 1(1)

GOODWILL J, THAN R
Provision for deaf patients in Rampton Special Hospital.  In TAYLOR G, BISHOP J.  Being deaf: the experience of deafness.  1991, Pinter Publishers for the Open University.  pp. 182-187. RNID Library location: Y

HITCHEN L
Bars to access. DISABILITY NOW,  1998,  May,  13.
Prison Service’s review of provision for disabled people found 40 profoundly deaf people out of a total prison population of 58.000 in England and Wales.

HOLMES A E, et al.
Screening for hearing loss in juvenile detention centers.  JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF AUDIOLOGY,  1996,  7(5),  332-337.

Imprisoned within prison. SOUNDBARRIER,  1990,  33,  14 15.  Lincoln prison officers learn sign language

JOHNSON S, HAMILTON J
The causes of crime?  BULLETIN (ROYAL COLLEGE OF SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPISTS),  1997,  541,  8-9.
Survey of prevalence of communication disorders, including hearing loss, among young offenders in a Borstal establishment.

JACOBSON C A, JACOBSON J T, CROWE T A
Hearing loss in prison inmates.  EAR AND HEARING,  1989,  10(3),  178 183.

JENSEMA C K
Hearing loss within a jail population. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN DEAFNESS AND REHABILITATION ASSOCIATION,  1990,  24(2),  49 58.

KUMAR V
Disabled prisoners’ needs – the urgency of a policy response.  1995,  Social Policy and Research Division, RNID.
This discussion paper for a meeting of representatives from HM Prison Service, RAD, RNIB and RNID, includes:
Enclosure I.  Guidelines on provision for deaf prisoners.
Enclosure II.  Deaf prisoners and equality of opportunity: issues of concern.
RNID Library location: RNID Coll/1995

MILLER K R, VERNON M
Accessibility of interpreting services for deaf prison inmates at arrest and in court a matter of basic constitutional rights.   JADARA,  2002,  36(1),  1-11.
An American perspective.

MILLER K,  VERNON M
Deaf sex offenders in a prison population.  JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION,  2003,  8(3),  357-362.

MILLER K
Linguistic Diversity in a Deaf Prison Population: Implications for Due Process. JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION, 2004, 9(1), 112-119.

MILLER K, McCAY V, CAPELLA M
Violent offenders in a deaf prison population. JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES & DEAF EDUCATION, 2005, 10(4), 417-425

RNID
Disabled Prisoners
London : RNID 1995
RNID COLL. 1995

ROBINSON D, COLLINS M
Bridging the communication gap: a survey of services for deaf people in a secure hospital. DEAF WORLDS,  1996,  12(2),  9-14.
Survey carried out at Rampton Hospital.

VERNON, M AND MILLER, K.
Obstacles faced by deaf people in the criminal justice system.  AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF 2005; 150(3); 283-291.

VERNON M
The horror of being deaf and in prison. AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF 2010; 155(3):311-21

WILLIAMS T
Deaf patients catered for.  COMMUNITY CARE,  1989,  770,  10.
Letter about services for deaf patients at Rampton Special Hospital.

Deaf Prison Ministries Network (USA)
http://www.deafprison.org

NAD (USA)
http://www.nad.org/issues/justice/jails-and-prisons

Prison Reform Trust
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk