CW: Incarceration, Neglect & Death
Disabled people are a growing presence in our country’s prisons. However, this reality is seldom talked about, particularly in the media. In 2016, some estimated that roughly one-quarter of people in the US were disabled. Yet, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, as of 2017, disabled people make up approximately two-thirds of the total state and federal prison population.
Of the disabled prisoners, 40 percent reported a psychiatric disability and 56 percent reported a nonpsychiatric disability. Disparities are evident between racial and ethnic minority populations. Black, Hispanic, and multiracial disabled males are overrepresented in our prisons. Though men account for the overwhelming majority of the prison population, disability is more common among incarcerated women.
Pathways into prison deepen the picture. Disabled incarcerated people were over twice as likely as incarcerated people without disabilities to have previously lived in institutions, psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment facilities, or group homes. These facilities, often framed as places of care, can reinforce exclusion and control and create a pipeline to prison instead of stability.
Incarceration has consequences that are often overlooked. A year in prison cuts a person’s life expectancy by two years. Mass incarceration has also lowered life expectancy overall; and without it, life expectancy would be five years higher nationwide. For disabled people, who already face health inequities, poverty, and systemic barriers, incarceration adds to their vulnerabilities. And in many facilities, the risk is real. Disabled people often die in prison. In one statewide review, about 90 percent of those who died in Oregon jails were disabled. As jail populations fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, deaths in Oregon jails increased.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees incarcerated people rights to medical treatment under the Eighth Amendment. But what do these rights mean for incarcerated disabled people? In New York State, this problem is systemic.
Dante Martin is legally blind, has a seizure disorder, and has hearing loss. Last year, he also lost his ability to walk independently. When Dante Martin first entered Five Points Correctional Facility in 2024, located near Ithaca, NY, corrections officers housed him in the facility’s medical unit.
Correctional officers determined that he would need support and could not be housed in a regular cell within the facility.At first, they provided Martin with some assistance while he was housed at Five Points Correctional Facility. However, after being transferred and eventually returning to the facility, these supports were gone.
Martin requested twenty-one accommodations relating to basic needs such as safety, communication, and activities of daily living. Officials acknowledged Martin was entitled to these accommodations under the law. Over 10 months later, sixteen were still undelivered. Without large-print documents, reading was nearly impossible. Without help moving around, navigation was risky. Without a wheelchair-accessible cell, bathing and socializing were nearly impossible.
The pattern is unmistakable. It repeats in prisons, classrooms, hospitals, and every place where disabled people are told they have rights. When places treat accommodations as optional, those rights suddenly become theoretical. They vanish the moment someone thinks the accommodations are inconvenient. Then the system punishes people instead of providing support. This is not an accident or a rare occurrence. It is the result of a system that sees access as something that can be negotiated, not something that must be given. The system treats disabled people as problems to solve, not people to protect.
Sources:
Bixby, Laurin, et al. “The Links Between Disability, Incarceration, and Social Exclusion.” Health Affairs, vol. 41, no. 10, Oct. 2022, pp. 1460–1469, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00495.
Brodner, Curtis. “Disabled People in New York Prisons Aren’t Receiving Accommodations They’re Entitled to.” Prism, 15 Sept. 2026, https://prismreports.org/2026/09/15/new-york-prison-disability-accommodations/.
“Grave Consequences: How the Criminalization of Disability Leads to Deaths in Jail.” Disability Rights Oregon, Winter 2021, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6387d767fc8a755e41aa5844/t/648381597d422257a9b20a22/1686339931285/DRO-Report-Grave%2BConsequences-2021-02-08.pdf.
Robinson, Greg, et al. “Access to Home- and Community-Based Services for People with Disabilities Leaving Incarceration: Barriers and Policy Priorities.” Community Living Equity Center, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Mar. 2026, https://heller.brandeis.edu/community-living-policy/clec/research/publications/pdfs/incarceration-reentry.pdf.
Vallas, Rebecca. “Disabled Behind Bars: The Mass Incarceration of People With Disabilities in America’s Jails and Prisons.” Center for American Progress, 18 July 2016, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/disabled-behind-bars/.
Wildeman, Christopher. “Incarceration and Population Health in Wealthy Democracies.” Criminology, vol. 54, no. 2, 2016, pp. 360–382, https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12107.