title: Rate of psychiatric morbidity in a metropolitan county jail population.
abstract: The author describes social-psychiatric characteristics of 122 jail inmates examined while awaiting trail, 80% of them on felony charges. The estimated overall rate of psychiatric illness was 4.6%. The patient sample was significantly older and contained significantly more minority group men than the jail population as a whole. Thirty-six percent of the patients diagnosed as schizophrenic were arrested on misdemeanor charges. Drug dependency was diagnosed in 51% of the men but in only 15% of the women. Psychosis was diagnosed more frequently and alcoholism, anxiety neurosis, and antisocial personality less frequently than in studies of prison populations using similar diagnostic criteria.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D003415:Crime; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011329:Prisoners; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population