SA man eligible for release forced to spend year in jail due to lack of disability housing
A cognitively impaired South Australian man has been forced to spend almost a year in jail, despite being eligible for release, because of a lack of disability housing.
The 22-year-old, who the ABC has chosen not to name, is from the state’s Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands and has foetal alcohol syndrome, caused by his mother drinking during pregnancy.
In 2013, a District Court judge found him mentally unfit to stand trial for stealing a handbag from a house at Kilburn and breaching bail.
He was placed on a three-year supervision order.
Supported accommodation was found at Kilburn and he was placed under the care of the director of Forensic Mental Health or a psychiatrist.
He was later taken back into custody for breaching that supervision order and was left languishing in jail from June 2014 to the end of May 2015.
Source: abc.net.au