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. 2011 Jul;53(3):253-7.
doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.86819.

Psychiatric morbidity in prisoners

Sandeep Kumar Goyal  1 , Paramjit Singh, Parshotam D Gargi, Samta Goyal, Aseem Garg
Affiliations

Psychiatric morbidity in prisoners

Sandeep Kumar Goyal et al. Indian J Psychiatry. 2011 Jul.

Abstract

Context: The prevalence of psychiatric illness in correctional settings is significantly elevated, with higher than community rates reported for most mental disorders.

Aims: (1) To examine the socio-demographic profile of convicted prisoners. (2) To evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in convicted prisoners.

Materials and 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.

Keywords: Prisoners; psychiatric morbidity; sociodemographic profile; substance abuse.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

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