Shahab Reza: What it was like to be deaf and in prison

Shahab Reza was in prison from July 2014 to April 2018.

Can I first set the scene as to what it is like to be deaf in prison.

Imagine this scenario. You are sitting in your cell and a tannoy announcement is made, ‘Mr R, come to the centre office please.” You can’t hear it.

There is a fire alarm evacuation and everyone is evacuating. You can’t hear it so you remain in your cell watching TV.

Your cell is the last cell at the end of the spur and people are not running past your room. How do you know what is happening? The people are running and shouting “get out, there is a fire on the spur” but they assume that you can hear it and leave you alone.

So many people are so unaware of the people around them that they don’t even know that you are deaf.

I am sure that you would think that the easiest thing to do would be to have a red flashing light in my cell and that would inform me. So simple but I didn’t have this as there is not enough money in the budget!

Less than 0.5% of the population of the prison was able to have a conversation with me. They don’t have the ability to communicate in British Sign Language (BSL). BSL is not English, it is a literal language and a visual language.

The prison staff didn’t have the ability to communicate with me either, I mean not even one person.

Have you ever had a conversation with an officer where you have to write everything down on a piece of scrap paper trying to explain to them something that is vitally important to you, like arranging an interpreter so that you can go to an appointment with the doctor?

It all adds up and it is a very isolated place to be in. Outside prison, life is difficult but here with fewer resources, it is significantly more difficult.

Let’s look at some specific issues.

Induction on arrival

When you arrive at reception and the officer asks you questions you can’t answer. When you see the nurse she can’t ask you questions or understand you.

I have a disability and there should be a disability assessment done with me but how can they do it if they can’t communicate with me?

Therefore it is not done adequately. When I arrived in prison I saw posters saying that there was a company called Capita who provided interpreting services. Included in the list of languages was B.S.L. However, the service was not provided every time I needed support.

Education

As part of the requirement for my progression through the rehabilitation process and as part of my Sentence Plan, I was required to attend education. I had to attend English and Maths. These are quite complicated subjects and need a lot of detailed explanation.

Try to explain English Grammar to someone who can’t hear you. Very difficult! That is why an interpreter is required. However, only four weeks into the course was I able to have an interpreter.

I lost four weeks of learning and just sat there looking at the teacher trying my best to understand. I have to do the exam the same as everyone else but I haven’t been taught anything.

Then I managed to get an interpreter for around four weeks towards the end. I had to do a lot of self study in order to do the exam. Horray, I passed! Moving to English Level 2, which is a requirement of most employers, no interpreter was provided, budget problems.

The only support I had through the process was another prisoner who had never learned any sign language before but was willing to try. I started to teach him, so that he could help me.

There are other courses I would like to do but I don’t have the opportunity as there is no support or funding available.

Healthcare – Doctor, dentist, optician, nurse

If I wanted to go to the doctor, I submitted an application the same as everyone else. I add a note to say that I am profoundly deaf and need an interpreter. My records state that I have this disability and they should by law provide an interpreter for the appointment.

I went to go to the doctor but no interpreter was provided. I had to ask the person I was teaching BSL to help me.

How can the doctor understand the details around the problems I have if he can’t communicate with me correctly? That is very dangerous because the doctor could make the wrong diagnosis. The same applies to the dentist, optician and nurse.

Friendships

How do you make friends with people you can’t communicate with?

Can you imagine being on your own through this journey of prison. You will struggle to make friends with people no matter how nice a person you are.

How and who would you discuss Brexit or the elections with? Who asks what I think?

Well, this is where I have to overcompensate to make friends. I have to make more of an effort than everyone else.

Religion

I am a very religious person and my religion means a lot to me. When I go to mosque to pray and listen to the teachings by the Imam, I can’t hear him. There are no subtitles like you get on TV.

I lose out on so much valuable teaching because an interpreter is not provided. Not in the budget or no funding to support me.

Listeners or Samaritans

When the average prisoner feels lonely or a bit down and wants to have a chat to a listener, it is generally possible. For me it is very different. I never had this type of support available to me. I couldn’t call the Samaritans for a quick chat to make me feel better. I just prayed.

Some basics – alarm clock (I can’t hear the alarm go off, vibrating)

I can’t hear an alarm clock going off and the beeping noise you hear. For a long time I had to go to sleep and wake up almost every hour to make sure that I didn’t miss the clock. This was exhausting and I was always tired due to the lack of sleep.

I asked to be provided with a vibrating alarm clock and had to wait two years to get one. It is great, instead of beeping it vibrates. You put it under your pillow and it starts vibrating at the time when it is set for.

This made a huge difference to my life and I remember that first night so vividly because I could finally have a good night’s rest.

Phone calls – Minicom, call costs

When you want to call your family or friends, you just add their name to the list via an application and you call them when you have time available.

I had to use a device called a Minicom which I use to type out what I want to say and send the message almost like a text message. I wait for the response then reply again.

This sounds fine but I got charged for the time it takes for the full call. Typing is a lot slower than talking, especially my typing! I have half the conversation at double the cost.

Legal visits and court hearing

When I had a legal visit I had to have an interpreter present otherwise I could get things very long and end up staying in prison a lot longer than I have to. Therefore I can’t attend a meeting without an interpreter present. The same applies to a court hearing.

Communicating

When you walk along having a conversation with a friend a hearing person doesn’t have to look at them while they are walking but I do.

BSL is a visual language and I had to see your hands and facial expressions to understand what people were trying to say.

This is hard because I had to concentrate on the person I was conversing with and often walked into other people. This is not because I am rude but because I am not focusing on what is ahead of me but on the person I am in conversation with. Sometimes I even walked into walls and posts! Ouch!

I hope that this gives you some insight into my world while I was in prison. I ask you to please be considerate and to understand a little more about the life I led.

Thank you for making the effort and taking the time to read this article and I hope you have more insight. God bless you.

Shahab Reza is profoundly Deaf and 56 years old. He was in prison from July 2014 to April 2018. He is now taking legal action against the government, as he believes they breached the Human Rights and Equality Act in their duty of care towards Deaf and disabled prisoners. He now volunteers for a charity.