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| Report: Mental ills common |
| By The Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 09/07/2006 |
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WASHINGTON, DC - More than half of the nation's jail and prison inmates suffer from mental health problems, according to a report released Wednesday that comes as California faces a prison crowding crisis and court orders compelling major changes in mental health care behind bars. The study, by the research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, confirms what wardens, convicts and correctional officers already know that large numbers of inmates routinely display symptoms of depression, mania or psychotic disorders. Based on a representative survey of more than 25,000 prisoners nationwide, the report found that mental health problems were associated with an inmate's violence and prior convictions. Those state prisoners with mental problems were more likely to have had at least three prior incarcerations and to have had broken prison rules. Mentally ill inmates also were twice as likely as other convicts to have been injured in a prison fight, and substantially more likely to have been abused as a child and homeless in the year before their arrest. Three out of four were dependent on drugs and alcohol, with 37% saying that they used drugs at the time of their crime. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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