Hidden severe psychiatric morbidity in sentenced prisoners: an Australian study.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this survey was to estimate the prevalence of severe mental disorders in a representative sample of sentenced prisoners.


METHODS
The subjects were selected as a random sample of sentenced prisoners in Melbourne's three metropolitan prisons. Interviews were conducted with 158 men and 31 women. Clinicians used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) to diagnose psychotic, affective, and substance use disorders.


RESULTS
Six prisoners (3%) received current diagnoses of psychotic disorders, and 23 (12%) were diagnosed as having current mood disorders, mainly major depression. A lifetime diagnosis of at least one mental disorder each was made for 82% of the respondents, and in 26% more than one lifetime disorder was diagnosed. Sixty-nine percent received lifetime diagnoses of dependence on or abuse of alcohol, other psychoactive substances, or a combination of these.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings do not indicate a large-scale shift of deinstitutionalized psychotically ill people from mental hospitals to prisons. They do, however, highlight the diversion into the corrections system of substance-dependent people and the apparent pool of prisoners with largely untreated major depression.
Herrman
H
H
Department of Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
McGorry
P
P
Mills
J
J
Singh
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000523:psychology; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors