title: Psychiatric morbidity in prisoners.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of psychiatric illness in correctional settings is significantly elevated, with higher than community rates reported for most mental disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  (1) To examine the socio-demographic profile of convicted prisoners. (2) To evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in convicted prisoners.
  
  
  METHODS
  500 convicts were assessed for psychiatric morbidity with the help of (a) Socio-demographic proforma, (b) Pareek Udai and Trivedi G's socio-economic status scale (rural) (household schedule), (c) Kuppuswamy's economic status scale (urban) and (d) Present State Examination (PSE).
  
  
  RESULTS
  23.8% of the convicted prisoners were suffering from psychiatric illness excluding substance abuse. 56.4% of the prisoners had history of substance abuse / dependence prior to incarceration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that a substantial burden of psychiatric morbidity exists in the prison population of India and the burden of psychiatric illness in this vulnerable and marginalized population poses a serious challenge to psychiatrists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Govt. Medical College, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Sandeep Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Goyal
authors.forename: Paramjit
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Parshotam D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Gargi
authors.forename: Samta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goyal
authors.forename: Aseem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garg