A Pennsylvania prison door offer “Ways to say hello,” suggestions about how prisoners in a segregated unit of the state prison at Albion can best greet each other. “Sensory” rooms in the unit offer calming blue walls where harsh fluorescent lighting is dimmed by special covers. The environment is part of a program aimed at serving prisoners with intellectual or developmental disabilities, a growing population that has presented a challenge for corrections officials as they try to balance the need for security with accommodations, reports the Associated Press. Prisoners often struggle with overstimulation, inflexibility and trouble with complex directions, resulting in strong reactions that can lead to further discipline. They grapple with social boundaries, making them more vulnerable to abuse, violence or manipulation in prison, said Steven Soliwoda, creator of Albion’s Neurodevelopmental Residential Treatment Unit.
In a regular prison setting, many inmates with autism and similar disabilities “would normally have kind of gotten through their incarceration just quietly,” said Soliwoda. “Maybe they would have been a recluse or spent a lot of time in their cell. But their voices are heard in the program and they develop that independence and the social skills they need to survive when they get out of here.” There is no comprehensive count of how many prisoners in the U.S. have autism or intellectual disabilities, though some studies estimate more than 4% are autistic and almost 25% reported having cognitive impairments, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics — nearly twice the rate of each in the overall population. The Neurodevelopmental Residential Treatment Unit, 20 miles from Erie, Pa., was started about three years ago and is the only facility of its kind in the state. The unit houses about 45 men — a small population that helps staff focus on individual treatment and limits some of the sensory stimulation of prison, Soliwoda said.