Prevalence of Prison Inmates with Major Psychiatric Disorder

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my thanks to my advisor, for his suggestions, comments, patience and understanding. Very special thanks to my parents, my father, my mother, my brother and my sister who were continuously supporting me throughout my life and leaving me free in all my decisions. I would also like to thank my colleagues for his technical support whenever I needed. I would like to thank to Department, all the university managers, teachers and students with whom I have worked.

I certify that the work presented in the dissertation is my own unless referenced

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DECLARATION

I declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. I further declare that this work has not previously been presented in whole or part, for any other award, or published in whole or in part elsewhere, including this university. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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ABSTRACT

The prevalence of mental disorders among prisoners has been researched in a few countries worldwide but never previously in United States. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, epidemiological study of 707 male prisoners. Sociodemographic, clinical and offending data would be collected by interviewers. Offending data would be confirmed using penitentiary records. Mental disorders would be assessed with the clinical version of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fourth Edition Axis I Disorders, and personality disorders would be assessed through the Spanish version of the International Personality Disorders Examination.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

ABSTRACTiv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Aim of the Study2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW3

Evaluations of Correctional HealthCare Services7

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY8

CHAPTER 4: EXPECTED CONCLUSION11

References12

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background

Availability of data on the prevalence of mental disorders in prisons is crucial in helping to better plan mental health services and facilitates prevention of criminal behaviour related to psychiatric pathology (Hodgins and Muller-Isberner, 2004). Since the 1990s, studies of prison populations across the world have concluded that there is a fourfold to sixfold higher probability of suffering a psychotic disorder or severe depression than in the general population and around 10 times greater probability of having anti-social personality disorder (Fazel and Danesh, 2002; Andersen, 2004; Brugha et al., 2005). One of four prisoners with a psychotic disorder had psychotic symptoms attributed to toxic or withdrawal effects of psychoactive substances (Brugha et al., 2005). Several studies carried out with prisoners in Europe [European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), 2009] have shown that habitual consumption of illegal drugs prior to entering prison range from a third to a half. Once in prison, most drug users reduce their consumption of drugs or give them up, but 27% of prisoners have admitted to using drugs during their imprisonment (EMCDDA, 2009).

To date, most epidemiological studies of mental disorders among prisoners have had limitations with regard to the size and heterogeneity of the samples and to the assessment instruments applied (Fazel and Danesh, 2002; Andersen, ...