A Severely Autistic Man Faces Deportation

Post Reply New Topic

Osime Brown, a severely autistic man from Dudley in the West Midlands, arrived in the UK from Jamaica at just four years old. In 2017, at the age of 18, he was sentenced to five years in prison for the theft of a mobile phone. He now faces potential deportation to the country he hasn’t been to since he was a child.

Brown was charged under the joint enterprise law, wherein a person can be found guilty of a crime that they failed to stop, rather than for directly committing the crime.

The act has not only been found to disproportionately target Black men, but also people with learning difficulties. The law rests on the assumption that parties present to a crime fully comprehend how an incident will play out – something that may not be true for some people with autism and other learning difficulties, such as Brown.

With a charge longer than 24 months, Brown’s indefinite leave to remain has been automatically revoked. The Home Office understands his imminent deportation to be “conducive to the public good”, as defined by the 2007 UK Borders Act.

With no friends or family in Jamaica, and no recollection of his time there, Brown is to be transferred from prison to an as yet unconfirmed immigration detention facility on the 7th of October, and then deported to the island.

Since his arrival in the prison system, both Mr Hall and Brown’s mother have noted that his pre-existing mental health disorders have worsened. In a recent assessment, Brown wrote, “I am worried about the voices in my head. Also my mental state.” His arms are now covered in both fresh and ageing scars from self-harm, and he has been labelled a suicide risk.

He was also told to “f**k off and self-harm, you self harmer”, according to his mother, who adds that Brown takes statements at face value, and so in that instance self-harmed, believing he had been instructed to do so. He has also been called racial slurs by prison officers.

A spokesperson from The Ministry of Justice said: “We do not recognise these allegations and all prisoners have access to healthcare when they require it.”

I’m surprised by this 5 years for steeling a phone!  We have quite soft sentences in the UK compared to US.  Unless violence is used it’s unlikely such a crime would get you anything over a suspended sentence or a few months jail time at most.  I think there is more to it or miss reported.

The lack of compassion in this case is shocking.  I'm glad it's getting some public attention.

He hardly committed a serious crime.

Apparently he was with a group who stole a phone, and he actually tried to talk them out if it.

How is that a more serious crime than sending an autistic teenager to a country he doesn't know, with no family or support?

He hardly committed a serious crime.
Apparently he was with a group who stole a phone, and he actually tried to talk them out if it.
How is that a more serious crime than sending an autistic teenager to a country he doesn't know, with no family or support?

Yes I know I live in the UK and it doesn’t make sense.

Nobody gets 5 years for stealing an iPhone. Robbery with violence maybe not a £500 phone.

We would have a million + people in jail right now if stealing something for a few hundred pounds landed you in jail.

Burgulars and muggers don’t get 5 years, that’s why I said there must be more to it or they are keeping him in jail because of his autism with no where else to care for him, or being an illegal immigrant.

The deportation of an autistic black man is an indictment of the UK’s racist justice system

The Guardian, Opinion

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ck-jamaica

“ . . Because of the UK’s controversial and discriminatory joint enterprise law, Brown was convicted and imprisoned in 2018 after he observed a phone theft in the street, even though other witnesses said he explicitly asked the people who stole the phone to stop. . ”