Abstract

Jails and prisons hold many people that society does not want to have around and it would be wise to keep them there, despite the fact that the legal and correctional system have failed to bring any positive changes in them. Prisoners with mental illness frequently endure violence, exploitation and extortion at the hands of other inmates and neglect and mistreatment by jail staff. To know the prevalence of mental morbidity among prisoners. The study was carried out in the district jail, Rohtak. A study sample of 150 male prisoners above sixteen was selected by random sampling technique ensuring proportionate representation to convicts as well as the non-convicts. Indian Psychiatric Interview Schedule (IPIS) was used for the purpose of screening the subjects suspected for psychiatric disorders and those who screened positive were administered Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV AXIS-I disorder (SCID-I) and AXIS-II disorder (SCID-II). 56% convicts belong to the age group of 30 to 50 years while 52% non-convicts were in the age group of 21 to 30 years. Prevalence of mental morbidity was 70% among convicts and 93% among non-convicts. 20% of convicts and 80% of non-convicts had AXIS-1 disorders while 24.6% of convicts and 75.4% of non-convicts had AXIS-11 disorders.

Key words: Mental morbidity, prisoners.