The incarceration of individuals with severe mental disorders.

Title

The incarceration of individuals with severe mental disorders.

Creator

Munetz M R; Grande T P; Chambers M R

Publisher

Community mental health journal

Date

2001
2001-08

Description

This study examines the extent to which severely mentally disabled (SMD) patients in one county mental health system were incarcerated in the local jail and examines characteristics of a sample (N = 30) of such individuals. We found that in the study year, 7.9% of known SMD patients had at least one incarceration in the county jail. Diagnoses were predominantly in the schizophrenia spectrum with 70% also actively abusing substances at the time of incarceration. The majority of crimes were non-violent and substance abuse related. Half of the sample was judged to be candidates for diversion programs. Our findings are consistent with recent literature confirming that substance abusing SMD individuals are at high risk of incarceration and could benefit from integrated mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Subject

Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Ohio/epidemiology; Criminal Law; Deinstitutionalization; Forensic Psychiatry/*trends; Mental Disorders/classification/*epidemiology/therapy; Mental Health Services/*statistics & numerical data; Mood Disorders/epidemiology; Prisons/*statistics & numerical data; Psychotic Disorders/epidemiology; Schizophrenia/epidemiology; Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology/therapy; Diagnosis; Dual (Psychiatry)

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Pages

361–372

Issue

4

Volume

37

Citation

Munetz M R; Grande T P; Chambers M R, “The incarceration of individuals with severe mental disorders.,” NEOMED Bibliography Database, accessed March 19, 2024, https://neomed.omeka.net/items/show/5546.