Citation

Gottfried ED, Christopher SC. J. Correct. Health Care 2017; 23(3): 336-346.

Affiliation

Community & Public Safety Psychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, National Commission on Correctional Health Care (USA), Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1078345817716180

PMID

28715985

Abstract

This article examines mental illness among adult, juvenile, male, female, jail, and prison inmates. It also explores the way in which mental health diagnoses impact offending and violent behavior. A review of literature pertaining to differences between the genders and age of offenders suggests that psychiatric disorders are more common among criminal offenders than the population at large. Furthermore, it appears that many mentally ill offenders do not receive sufficient treatment during their incarcerations and that barriers inherent to incarceration prevent adequate treatment of mental illnesses.

Language: en

Keywords

corrections; jails; mentally ill criminal offenders; prisoners; violence