Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners.

BACKGROUND

There is a considerable lack of scientific estimate of psychiatric morbidity among Indian prisoners.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the following study is to study the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

A cross-sectional study at District Jail, Kozhikode, Kerala.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 255 prisoners who were inmates during the period from mid-April to mid-July 2011 participated in the study. The study subjects included both male and female remand or convict prisoners. Socio-demographic data, clinical history and criminological history were collected from each individual. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using MINI-Plus.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Done by using SPSS version 16 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, USA).

RESULTS

A total of 175 subjects (68.6%) had a current mental illness. Substance use disorder was the most common diagnosis (47.1%). Antisocial personality disorder was diagnosed in 19.2%, adjustment disorder in 13.7%, mood disorder in 4.3% and psychosis in another 6.3% of prisoners. A high rate of a current psychiatric disorder was seen in male (69.7%) prisoners. A significant association was noticed for the different nature of crimes with psychiatric diagnoses and previous imprisonment. Nearly 4% of prisoners reported a moderate to high suicide risk.

CONCLUSION

Mental health problems among prisoners were quite high. Mentally ill prisoners are at high risk for repeated incarceration. The increased rate of psychiatric disorders should be a concern for mental health professionals and the policy makers.