title: Outcome of referral to a prison mental health team.
abstract: This retrospective case note study describes the demographic, offence and diagnostic characteristics of 115 referrals made to a psychiatric service within HMP Perth between May 2003 and April 2004. Twenty per cent of referrals were diagnosed with a major mental illness with remand prisoners having a higher overall prevalence. Nearly 70% had previous contact with psychiatric services, a similar percentage had previous substance misuse. Over 8% were transferred out of prison and over a quarter continued to be followed up at the end of the study period. A wide range of index offences was seen. Over two-thirds had a previous history of offending and nearly 60% had a previous custodial sentence, reflecting a high degree of recidivism. This study supports the high degree of psychiatric morbidity in the prison population shown in other studies. The role of a prison psychiatric service is discussed in the context of services to mentally disordered offenders.
authors.affiliation: Murray Royal Hospital, Muirhall Road, Perth, Scotland, PH2 7BH. andrea.m.friel@tuht.scot.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friel
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011330:Prisons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012008:Recurrence; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012606:Scotland; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology