Most inmates have brain injuries

Published: 11:06AM Tuesday October 29, 2013 Source: Fairfax

Brain-injured offenders are packing Kiwi prisons, leaving experts calling for better assessment and rehabilitation of those suffering head injuries.

Ministry of Health figures show 64 per cent of prisoners have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), compared with just 2 per cent of the general population.

Studies put the number even higher, with 80 per cent of non-Maori and 90 per cent of Maori prisoners suffering from TBI.

Neurologist Richard Seemann said it was "a given" brain injury was linked to offending behaviour.

Seemann said the frontal lobes of the brain were "the part in charge of putting brakes on behaviour - so, you think a thought but don't say it out loud, or think about doing something but decide not to do it".

People with frontal lobe injuries had trouble recognising consequences, resisting impulses, or discerning appropriate behaviour - tendencies that could land them in trouble with police, he said.

Max Cavit, manager of brain-injury support provider ABI Rehabilitation, said while many people with brain injuries would never offend, some developed behavioural issues that landed them in court.

Common effects of brain injury such as sexual disinhibition, poor risk judgment, difficulty empathising and anger-management issues were also associated with offending.

"We've had a one man who had no history of sexual offending ... who after a severe brain injury ... ended up in the prison system," Cavit said.

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Most inmates have brain injuries