Papers

Prevalence of mental disorder in remand prisoners: consecutive case study

^a Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, St Nicholas's Hospital, Gosforth NE3 3XT

Correspondence to: Luke Birmingham.

Abstract

Objective: To define the prevalence of mental disorder and need for psychiatric treatment in new remand prisoners and to determine to what extent these are recognised and addressed in prison.
Design: Study of consecutive male remand prisoners at reception using a semistructured psychiatric interview.
Setting: Large remand prison for men (HMP Durham).
Subjects: 569 men aged 21 years and over on remand, awaiting trial. Main outcome measures--Prevalence of mental disorder at reception, prisoners need for psychiatric treatment, identification of mental disorder by prison reception screening, and numbers placed appropriately in the prison hospital.
Results: 148 (26%) men had one or more current mental disorders (excluding substance misuse) including 24 who were acutely psychotic. The prison reception screening identified 34 of the men with mental disorder and six of those with acute psychosis. 168 men required psychiatric treatment, 50 of whom required urgent intervention; 16 required immediate transfer to psychiatric hospital. Of these 50, 17 were placed on the hospital wing because of mental disorder recognised at prison screening.
Conclusion: Not only is the prevalence of mental disorder, in particular severe mental illness, high in this population, but the numbers identified at reception are low and subsequent management in prison is poor.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Oakley, C., Hynes, F., Clark, T. (2009). Mood disorders and violence: a new focus. Adv. Psychiatr. Treat. 15: 263-270 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Gunter, T. D., Arndt, S., Wenman, G., Allen, J., Loveless, P., Sieleni, B., Black, D. W. (2008). Frequency of Mental and Addictive Disorders Among 320 Men and Women Entering the Iowa Prison System: Use of the MINI-Plus. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 36: 27-34 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Birmingham, L., Mullee, M. (2005). Development and evaluation of a screening tool for identifying prisoners with severe mental illness. Psychiatr. Bull. 29: 334-338 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Brugha, T., Singleton, N., Meltzer, H., Bebbington, P., Farrell, M., Jenkins, R., Coid, J., Fryers, T., Melzer, D., Lewis, G. (2005). Psychosis in the Community and in Prisons: A Report From the British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity. Am. J. Psychiatry 162: 774-780 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Birmingham, L. (2004). Mental disorder and prisons. Psychiatr. Bull. 28: 393-397 [Full text]  
• Hatfield, B., Ryan, T., Pickering, L., Burroughs, H., Crofts, R. (2004). The Mental Health of Residents of Approved Premises in the Greater Manchester probation Area: A Cohort Study. Probation Journal 51: 101-115 [Abstract]  
• WARNER, R. (2003). How much of the burden of schizophrenia is alleviated by treatment?. Br. J. Psychiatry 183: 375-376 [Full text]  
• Nurse, J., Woodcock, P., Ormsby, J. (2003). Influence of environmental factors on mental health within prisons: focus group study. BMJ 327: 480- [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Birmingham, L. (2003). The mental health of prisoners. Adv. Psychiatr. Treat. 9: 191-199 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Pyszora, N. M., Telfer, J. (2003). Implementation of the Care Programme Approach in prison. Psychiatr. Bull. 27: 173-176 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Lester, C., Hamilton-Kirkwood, L., Jones, N. K. (2003). Health indicators in a prison population: Asking prisoners. Health Education Journal 62: 341-349 [Abstract]  
• COID, J., PETRUCKEVITCH, A., BEBBINGTON, P., BRUGHA, T., BHUGRA, D., JENKINS, R., FARRELL, M., LEWIS, G., SINGLETON, N. (2002). Ethnic differences in prisoners: 2: Risk factors and psychiatric service use. Br. J. Psychiatry 181: 481-487 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Kennedy, H. G. (2002). Therapeutic uses of security: mapping forensic mental health services by stratifying risk. Adv. Psychiatr. Treat. 8: 433-443 [Full text]  
• Isherwood, S., Parrott, J. (2002). Audit of transfers under the Mental Health Act from prison -- the impact of organisational change. Psychiatr. Bull. 26: 368-370 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Birmingham, L. (2001). Screening prisoners for psychiatric illness: who benefits?. Psychiatr. Bull. 25: 462-464 [Full text]  
• BLAAUW, E., WINKEL, F. W., KERKHOF, A. J.F.M. (2001). Bullying and Suicidal Behavior in Jails. Criminal Justice and Behavior 28: 279-299 [Abstract]  
• Birmingham, L. (2001). Diversion from custody. Adv. Psychiatr. Treat. 7: 198-207 [Full text]  
• Birmingham, L. (2001). The experience of being a guest medical inspector with the Prison Inspectorate. Psychiatr. Bull. 25: 25-26 [Full text]  
• Nadkarni, R., Chipchase, B., Fraser, K. (2000). Partnership with probation hostels: A step forward in community forensic psychiatry. Psychiatr. Bull. 24: 222-224 [Full text]  
• Reed, J. L, Lyne, M. (2000). Inpatient care of mentally ill people in prison: results of a year's programme of semistructured inspections. BMJ 320: 1031-1034 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Birmingham, L. (1999). Prison officers can recognise hidden psychiatric morbidity in prisoners. BMJ 319: 853-853 [Full text]  
• (1999). Providing Better Services For Mentally Disordered Young Offenders: Pitfalls And Prospects. Probation Journal 46: 83-88 [Abstract]  
• Fryers, T., Brugha, T., Grounds, A., Melzer, D. (1998). Severe mental illness in prisoners. BMJ 317: 1025-1026 [Full text]  
• Chiswick, D. (1996). Sentencing mentally disordered offenders. BMJ 313: 1497-1498 [Full text]