Tag Archives: Prison

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE SENATE: The disability Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is not recognised by the federal government as a disability. This creates difficulties for families living with FASD with state and federal services

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE SENATE: The disability Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is not recognised by the federal government as a disability. This creates difficulties for families living with FASD with state and federal services

Petition by
 Anne Russell of the Russell Family Fetal Alcohol Disorders Association (Accessed on December 14th)

Commentary by Shauna Makie

Anne Russell of the Russell Family Fetal Alcohol Disorders Association in Australia has started a petition for the Speaker and Members of the Senate to recognize FASD as a federally recognized disability. Russell approaches the dilemma by having readers recognize the challenges that often go unseen for those individuals living with FASD. “Their days are spent trying to make sense of what is happening to them, rather than learning from their experiences” Russell declares, and that their cognitive disability goes masked by other social systems such as the welfare, employment, mental health, drug and alcohol, prison, and disability services as a result of their undiagnosed disability. Although some organizations do recognize FASD as a considerable cognitive disability that qualifies for certain programming, the Federal Government does not include it as a disability.

In Canada, particularly in Saskatchewan, FASD is recognized as a disability. However, the ambiguity of FASD as a disability is found in the process of diagnosis—or lack there of. Saskatchewan, and other provinces often suffer both financially and resourcefully in allocating services to attain an FASD diagnosis in order to qualify for appropriate programming. As Russell identified, without the government investing directly into understanding and diagnosing FASD, these individuals are placed in insufficient programs that lead to further suffering elongating the forging of secondary disabilities.

 

Inmate gets another year for prison stabbing ‘The victim did not instigate an altercation and had no opportunity to defend himself’

Inmate gets another year for prison stabbing: ‘The victim did not instigate an altercation and had no opportunity to defend himself’

Inmate gets another year for prison stabbing: ‘The victim did not instigate an altercation and had no opportunity to defend himself’

Kamloops: The Daily News (October 23rd, 2013) (Accessed November 3, 2013)

Commentary by Krystal Glowatski

Derek Baptiste, an inmate at KRCC (Kamloops), will serve one additional year in prison for stabbing a fellow inmate.  While the defence wanted the one-year sentence to be served concurrently, to avoid the “warehouse” phenomenon, the judge agreed with the Crown that one additional year is not excessive.  Baptiste was originally jailed for: four break-and-enters, a breach of recognizance, and possession of a dangerous weapon.  Based on these offences, the fact that this individual has FASD, and the recent Consensus Development Conference on FASD and Legal Issues, there are likely a number of people out there who would argue that jail is excessive for this individual.

While FASD should not be a “get-out-of-jail-free-card,” there should be special consideration for the issues that plague individuals with FASD.  Unfortunately, these individuals are vulnerable to begin with and placing them in prisons only makes them that much more susceptible to victimization.  Alternative forms of accountability should be considered more often when the court is aware of an individual’s diagnosis of FASD.  As stated in the draft of the Consensus Statement (Vol. 5), it is recommended that there should be consideration by Parliament to make conditional sentences more available for vulnerable individuals, such as those who have FASD.  I suppose the question remains – where should these changes take root?  Is it the responsibility of judges to acknowledge FASD and use what discretion they have to recognize the special considerations necessary to help these individuals, or is it the responsibility of higher powers such as the government to drastically change legislation?  This is an interesting case, in which the individual is documented as having FASD (something that isn’t often recognized in the prison population), yet he was sentenced based on regular standards.  Perhaps more time is needed to start seeing changes within sentencing as they have been envisioned at the Consensus Development Conference in September 2013.