Analysis of penitentiary, social and legal operators’ perceptions of prison inmates with intellectual disabilities

Abstract Objective To analyze the different perceptions of professionals about the problem of intellectual disability in the prison setting. Material and method Exploratory-descriptive type. In-depth interviews with legal, social and prison operators of Centro Penitenciario de Zuera (Zaragoza). Results The narratives of the interviewed subjects point to the aggravating circumstances that a closed social environment can entail for inmates with intellectual disabilities. Communications in the prison administration are written in a technical language that is not understandable for inmates with intellectual deficits. Discusion There is a need to give more visibility to the case of inmates with intellectual disabilities. Procedures also need to be applied that favour greater cognitive accessibility for this profile of inmates, along with the promotion of awareness raising and training for professionals to enable them to deal with this issue.