TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners
JO  - Indian journal of psychiatry
A1  - Ayirolimeethal, Anithakumari
A1  - Ragesh, G.
A1  - Ramanujam, Jayanthi M.
A1  - George, Biju
SP  - 150
EP  - 153
VL  - 56
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: There is a considerable lack of scientific estimate of psychiatric morbidity among Indian prisoners. <br><br>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. <br><br>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). <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0019-5545
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.130495
ID  - ref1
ER  -