People with developmental disabilities face many challenges. A brush with the criminal justice system can make life much more complicated. One unit at the Cuyahoga Board of Developmental Disabilities is working to help them navigate the system.
Antonio Boone remembers the night that led to his arrest.
“Me and my brother was going to visit a friend, and we ended up drinking,” said Boone. “And on the way home, the police pulled us over because we were going real slow. I was driving, and we was about to get on the freeway.”
Before his arrest, the 44-year-old from Cleveland’s near east side was heading in the wrong direction.
“I was drinking every day, I was getting sick every day. (With) my stomach, I was catching an ulcer,” said Boone. “And I think I would have been dead if I didn’t come through the system. Yeah, probably could have gotten an accident.”
Boone has a developmental disability and that opened the door to services provided by a special unit at the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities. The forensic unit provides wrap-around services to those with functional limitations going through the criminal justice system.