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A mix of tailored mental health, disability and community services can substantially reduce the rate at which people with intellectual disability return to prison.
These important new findings come from research by Dr Julian Trofimovs, undertaken for his PhD.
Julian’s research used a unique dataset that combines information from justice, health and disability organisations across NSW.
Listen to Julian talking about his research
Julian used the dataset to explore how people with intellectual disability experience the criminal justice system in NSW.
One aspect Julian looked at was recidivism, which is when a person re-offends or returns to prison.
Around the world, research has shown that recidivism rates are higher for people with intellectual disability.
Julian’s data showed that around 70 to 75 percent of prisoners with intellectual disability ended up back in prison, which is noticeably higher than around 50 percent for all released prisoners.
The importance of post-release support
Julian was interested in finding out if there is a way to close this gap in recidivism rates. In particular, what role can support services play in the post-release pathway of people with intellectual disability? How effective are support services in keeping people out of prison? What are the best services at reducing recidivism rates?
Julian looked at the impact of general community support services, specialised disability support services, and mental health services.
“We found that the provision of disability support after a prison episode had a quite a remarkable effect,” he says.
“It lowered the proportion of people returning to prison to about the same proportion as the general population. So it was quite a marked result.”
Provision of mental health supports also reduced recidivism. If a person with intellectual disability released from prison received mental health support, they were 42 percent less likely to end up back in prison.
However, the biggest drop in recidivism rate occurred for people who received both disability support and community mental health services.
“If a person received a combination of both mental health and disability support, they were 52 percent less likely to end up back in prison,” Julian says.
Implications for health, disability and justice
Julian’s research provides clear evidence for how to reduce the proportion of people with intellectual disability returning to prison.
“There is a clear need for enhanced, intensive and integrated specialist intellectual disability and community mental health services with links to supports in the justice, community and welfare, housing and health services,” Julian says.
However, Julian’s research also revealed a crucial barrier to people accessing the right post-release services.
“One of the biggest barriers we found was identifying people with intellectual disability in the prison system. Identifying intellectual disability is very difficult, but if you're not identified, you can't be connected to the right supports,” he says.
The researchers argue that more consistency in identifying and defining intellectual disability, and better information coordination between agencies would go a long way toward keeping people out of prisons.
“I hope our research provides an evidence base for the improvement of support services. Policy should be driven by good research. We have this amazing opportunity with our data set to make an argument for the provision of better support services.”
“I hope this research is a step towards better outcomes for people with intellectual disability. We need to make sure that people with intellectual disability are identified in the prison system, connected to support before they leave prison and continue to access that support when they leave.”
About Julian
Dr Julian Trofimovs is a data analyst at 3DN, part of the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health. Julian undertook this research as part of his Doctorate studies. In 2024 Julian earned the UNSW Dean’s award for an outstanding PhD thesis. Julian’s PhD thesis was supervised by Professor Julian Trollor, Emeritus Professor Leanne Dowse and Dr Preeyaporn Srasuebkul.
Find out more
- Impact of post-release community mental health and disability support on reincarceration for prisoners with intellectual disability and serious mental illness in NSW, Australia, BJPsych Open, February 2023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.9
- Disability support and reincarceration after a first adult prison custody episode for people with intellectual disability in New South Wales, Australia, Journal of Criminology, March 2022, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/26338076221087461
- Using linked administrative data to determine the prevalence of intellectual disability in adult prison in New South Wales, Australia, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, April 2021, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jir.12836
- Criminal justice transitions among adolescents in Australia: A multi-state model https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102189
