Mentally ill offenders in jails and prisons: Advances in service planning and delivery

Current Opinion in Psychiatry

Volumn 11, Issue 6, 1998, Pages 683-687

  Welsh, Andrew ^a   Ogloff, James R P ^a  

^a SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMMUNITY; COMORBIDITY; FEMALE; FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; HUMAN; MALE; MENTAL DISEASE; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE; OFFENDER; PRISON; PSYCHOTHERAPY; SHORT SURVEY;

EID: 0031768974     PISSN: 09517367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/00001504-199811000-00016     Document Type: Short Survey

References (25)

1. Felthous AR. Introduction to the issue: mental health issues in correctional settings. Behavioral Sciences and the Law 1997; 15:379-381. This special issue of Behavioral Sciences and the Law provides a number of excellent articles that cover many areas of interest concerning mental health issues in correctional settings. The issue is a 'must have' for readers interested in this topic.
2. Wormith JS, McKeague F. A mental health survey of community correctional clients in Canada. Crim Behav Ment Health 1996; 6:49-72.
3. Cohen A, Eastman N. Needs assessment for mentally disordered offenders and other requiring similar services: theoretical issues and a methodological framework. Br J Psychiatry 1997; 171:412-416. The authors raise several interesting theoretical and methodological issues. In particular, issues regarding definition and approach that researchers will encounter are given a thorough treatment. The authors' conclusions and recommendations, however, are somewhat abbreviated.
4. Powell TA, Holt JC, Fondacaro KM. The prevalence of mental illness among inmates in a rural state. Law Hum Behav 1997; 21:427-437.
5. Elliot RL. Evaluating the quality of correctional mental health services: an approach to surveying a correctional mental health system. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:427-438. Although this is a naturalistic study conducted across a short span of time, it represents an initial effort at developing a methodology of surveying correctional mental health services. Furthermore, the findings discussed by Elliot reiterate concerns raised by other articles in this review surrounding the quality of mental health services in the correctional system.
6. Morris SM, Steadman HJ, Veysey BM. Mental health services in United States Jails: a survey of innovative practices. Crim Just Behav 1997; 24:3-19.
7. Gallagher RW, Ben-Porath YS, Briggs S. Inmate views about the purpose and use of the MMPI-2 at the time of correctional intake. Crim Just Behav 1997; 24:360-369.
8. Veysey BM, Steadman HJ, Morrissey JP, Johnsen M, Beckstead JW. Using the Referral decision scale to screen mentally ill jail detainees: validity and implementation issues. Law Hum Behav 1998; 22:205-215.
9. Wang EW, Rogers R, Giles CL, Diamond PM, Herrington-Wang LE, Taylor ER. A pilot study of the personality assessment inventory (PAI) in corrections: assessment of malingering, suicide risk, and aggression in male inmates. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:469-482.
10. Mason D, Birmingham L, Grubin D. Substance use in remand prisoners: a consecutive case study. Br Med J 1997; 315:18-21. A simple but effective methodology was used to not only estimate the prevalence of substance abuse among new prisoners, but also to identify shortcomings in prison health-reception screening. Furthermore, the authors tie intake screening problems to inadequate provision of detoxification programmes.
11. Edens JF, Peters RH, Hills HA. Treating prison inmates with co-occurring disorders: an integrative review of existing programs. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:439-457. Edens et al. provide an extensive description of those treatment options available for inmates with a co-occurring substance abuse and mental disorder. Because there are few existing treatment programmes of this nature, the value of this descriptive article is increased; several of the key programme components reviewed here could serve as templates for developing similar programmes in other correctional institutions. In addition, the article calls for increased efforts at evaluating the efficacy of such programmes in the future.
12. Taylor PJ, Maden A, Jones D. Long-term medium-security hospital units: a service gap of the 1990s? Grim Behav Ment Health 1996; 6:213-229.
13. Reed J. The need for longer term psychiatric care in medium or low security. Crim Behav Ment Health 1997; 7:201-212.
14. Condelli WS, Bradigan B, Holanchock H. Intermediate care programs to reduce risk and better manage inmates with psychiatric disorders. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:459-467. There are several limitations to this study, as noted by the authors, including a relatively small sample and lack of a comparison group. Nevertheless, the importance of the services provided by these programmes and these initial results are worthy of further research.
15. Danto BL. Suicide litigation as an agent of change in jail and prison: an initial report. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:415-425.
16. Hayes LM. From chaos to calm: one jail system's struggle with suicide prevention. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:399-413.
17. Haines J, Williams CL. Coping and problem-solving of self-mutilators. J Clin Psychol 1997; 53:177-186.
18. Kershaw A, Lasovich M. Rock-a-bye baby: a death behind bars. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc.; 1991.
19. Miller HA. Young GR. Prison segregation: administrative detention remedy or mental health problem. Crim Behav Ment Health 1997; 7:84-94. This study highlights an area that should be of interest and concern to correctional agencies. Although the sample size of the study is small, the research is exploratory and does extend laboratory findings on the effects of isolation to applied settings. In addition, the findings indicate new directions for research on this issue.
20. Teplin LA, Abram KM, McClelland GM. Mentally disordered women in jail: who receives services? Am J Public Health 1997; 87:604-609. Teplin et al. explore three important mental health issues in correctional settings. Studies of prevalence rates of mental illness within correctional facilities have largly ignored the needs of female inmates. The results reported here give a good initial indication of the mental hearth needs of women in prison. In general, reporting those variables that predicted service in addition to the proportion of inmates who receivd services provides a more clear indication of what aspects of correctional mental hearth services are lacking.
21. Timmon-Mitchell J, Brown C, Schulz C, Webster SE, Underwood LA, Semple WE. Comparing the mental health needs of female and male incarcerated juvenile delinquents. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:195-202.
22. Lindquist CH, Lindquist CA. Gender differences in distress: mental health consequences of environmental stress among inmates. Behav Sei Law 1997; 15:503-523.
23. Negy C, Woods DJ, Carlson R. The relationship between female inmates' coping and adjustment in a minimum security prison. Grim Just Behav 1997; 24:224-233.
24. Jacoby JE, Kozie-Peak B. The benefits of social support for mentally ill offenders: prison-to-community transitions. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:483-501. The sample size examined in this study was relatively small and, as a result, the findings should be regarded as tentative. The definitions of in-prison and post-release social support, and the use of formerly institutionalized individuals as staff interviewers were unique methods. Future research should examine the effects of substance abuse history (present in all participants in this study), and the lack of an effect of social support on criminal recidivism and rehospitalization.
25. Veysey BM, Steadman HJ, Mornssey JP, Johnsen M. In search of the missing linkages: continuity of care in U.S. jails. Behav Sci Law 1997; 15:383-397.