title: Ethnic differences in prisoners. 1: criminality and psychiatric morbidity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In England and Wales, persons of African-Caribbean origin are more likely to be both imprisoned and admitted to secure hospitals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To estimate population-based rates of imprisonment in different ethnic groups, and compare criminal behaviour and psychiatric morbidity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined Home Office data on all persons in prison, and carried out a two-stage cross-sectional survey of 3142 remanded and sentenced, male and female, prisoners in all penal establishments in England and Wales in 1997.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We confirmed high rates of imprisonment for Black people and lower rates for South Asians. Different patterns of offending and lower prevalence of psychiatric morbidity were observed in Black prisoners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite increased risks of imprisonment, African-Caribbeans show less psychiatric morbidity than White prisoners. This contrasts with the excess of African-Caribbeans in secure hospitals, an inconsistency possibly in part due to the effects of ethnic groups on admission procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. J.W.Coid@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Coid
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petruckevitch
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bebbington
authors.forename: Traolach
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brugha
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhugra
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: Glyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Singleton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000208:ethnology; D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D003415:Crime; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014900:West Indies / Q000208:ethnology