Factors associated with referrals to high security forensic services among people with severe mental illness and receiving inpatient care in prison.
Forensic services
Mental disorders
Prison
Substance use disorder
Journal
International journal of law and psychiatry
ISSN: 1873-6386
Titre abrégé: Int J Law Psychiatry
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 7806862
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Historique:
received:
31
05
2018
revised:
12
10
2018
accepted:
11
11
2018
entrez:
9
1
2019
pubmed:
9
1
2019
medline:
21
1
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Prison mental health care is a significant topic which has been already studied and described in literature, particularly because of important implications both in the prison and in the health care system. It's not uncommon that inmates suffering from mental disorders are referred to high security forensic services (HSFS) but, to date, studies assessing factors associated with relevant referrals to these services are missing. So, the aim of our study is to investigate socio-demographic, criminological, psychopathological and toxicological variables among those who were referred to HSFS as compared to their non-referred counterpart. We conducted a cross-sectional study recruiting 159 subjects receiving prison inpatient care in an Italian jail, between January 2010 and August 2015. No subjects were excluded from the study. The mean age was 39. About half of included prisoners suffered from personality disorder while one-third from psychotic disorders. >60% of the subjects had comorbid substance use disorders. The odds of being referred to HSFS were related to previous admission (odds ratio [OR] = 5.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66-17.16), diagnosis of psychosis (OR = 2.79, 95% CI 1.11-7.04) and cannabis use disorder (OR = 2.68, 95% CI 1.14-6.28). Personality disorder was inversely associated to the referral to forensic facilities (OR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.14-0.97). Mental health services should improve preventive measures for vulnerable prisoners in order to reduce criminal recidivism and forensic readmission.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Prison mental health care is a significant topic which has been already studied and described in literature, particularly because of important implications both in the prison and in the health care system. It's not uncommon that inmates suffering from mental disorders are referred to high security forensic services (HSFS) but, to date, studies assessing factors associated with relevant referrals to these services are missing. So, the aim of our study is to investigate socio-demographic, criminological, psychopathological and toxicological variables among those who were referred to HSFS as compared to their non-referred counterpart.
METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study recruiting 159 subjects receiving prison inpatient care in an Italian jail, between January 2010 and August 2015. No subjects were excluded from the study. The mean age was 39.
RESULTS
About half of included prisoners suffered from personality disorder while one-third from psychotic disorders. >60% of the subjects had comorbid substance use disorders. The odds of being referred to HSFS were related to previous admission (odds ratio [OR] = 5.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.66-17.16), diagnosis of psychosis (OR = 2.79, 95% CI 1.11-7.04) and cannabis use disorder (OR = 2.68, 95% CI 1.14-6.28). Personality disorder was inversely associated to the referral to forensic facilities (OR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.14-0.97).
CONCLUSIONS
Mental health services should improve preventive measures for vulnerable prisoners in order to reduce criminal recidivism and forensic readmission.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30616859
pii: S0160-2527(18)30134-1
doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2018.11.003
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
90-94Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.