The Conversation

People with cognitive disability shouldn't be in prison because they're 'unfit to plead'. There are alternatives

Author: Bernadette McSherry, Foundation Director, Melbourne Social Equity Institute, University of Melbourne

In 2018, the Victorian Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, delivered a report about “the saddest case” she had ever seen.

A 39-year-old woman with a developmental disorder had been locked in her prison cell for up to 23 hours a day for more than 18 months. The woman had been charged with breaching an intervention order (a charge...

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