The prevalence of mental health difficulties in a sample of prisoners in Trinidadian prisons referred for anger management
| Date | 12 November 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-03-2018-0011 |
| Published date | 12 November 2018 |
| Pages | 249-256 |
| Author | John Rose,Gerard Hutchinson,Paul Willner,Tony Bastick |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Forensic practice,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Law enforcement/correctional,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice |
The prevalence of mental health
difficulties in a sample of prisoners in
Trinidadian prisons referred for
anger management
John Rose, Gerard Hutchinson, Paul Willner and Tony Bastick
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the prevalence of mental health disorder symptoms in a
sample of prisoners in Trinidadian prisons who volunteered to attend anger management groups.
Design/methodology/approach –A survey was conducted using the 90-item Symptom Check-List
revised (SCL-90-R) which was administered to prisoners in groups within the prison system. In total
132 prisoners (about 9 per cent of the prison population) completed the measure. The effect sizes of
prisoners’similarities to a psychiatric inpatient group and their differences from a non-patient group were
used to identify symptoms most indicative of pathology in these prisoners.
Findings –The results on the SCL-90-R indicate that this group of prisoners (77.3 per cent male) had scores
of psychiatric symptomatology that were much closer to a psychiatric inpatient population rather than to a
general community population.
Practical implications –These results suggest there may be unmet psychiatric need among the population
served by the prison services in Trinidad. It is not known how this sample differs from the general prison
population. However, the unmet psychiatric need in this specific population suggests that a greater mental
health focus in health services within prisons is to be considered to meet these needs.
Originality/value –These data suggest thatthere are significant mental health issuesfor some prisoners in
Trinidad and possibly more generally in similar prison systems within the Caribbean and this may have
significantimplications for the treatmentof prisoners and the delivery of mentalhealth services in these prisons.
Keywords Forensic, Offender, Prisons, Mental health, Trinidad, Prevalence
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The Bureau of Justice in the USA has estimated that well over half the prisoners in that country
have some diagnosable mental health condition (James and Glaze, 2006). One study from the
USA found that wome n in the prison population were twice as likely to have a serio us mental
health disorder as compared to males (31 to 14.5 per cent) (Steadman et al., 2009). Estimates
of mental health dis orders among prisoners have reache d as high as 80 per cent lifetime
prevalence in Andalucía, Spain (Lopez et al., 2016). The disorders that have been most
commonly found include substance usedisorders, personality disorders, mood disorders and
psychosis (Bebbington et al., 2017). Co-morbidity of a range of disorders is also quite common
(Bebbington et al., 2017; Rose et al., 2013). A recent study in Iowa reported a prevalence rate
of 48 per cent for mental illness and that these illnesses were diagnosed in the sixth year of
incarceration (A l-Rousan et al., 2017).
The isolation, dep rivation and hostility of the prison en vironment can lead to interpersona l
conflict and perce ptions of abnormality which can ea sily predispose individuals to low m ood
Received 28 March 2018
Revised 11 June 2018
Accepted 12 June 2018
Conflict of interest: the authors
have no conflicts of interest with
respect to this publication. This
work was conducted with part of a
UWI/-Government of Trinidad and
Tobago Research and
Development Impact Fund (RDIf )
grant provided by the National Gas
Company of Trinidad and Tobago.
John Rose is Professor at the
School of Psychology,
The University of Birmingham,
Birmingham, UK and
Academic Department,
St Andrews Health Care,
Northampton, UK.
Gerard Hutchinson is Professor
at the Department of
Community Health and
Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical
Sciences, University of the
West Indies at Saint Augustine,
Saint Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago.
Paul Willner is Professor at the
Swansea University,
Swansea, UK.
Tony Bastick is based at the
Department of Community
Health and Psychiatry, Faculty
of Medical Sciences, University
of the West Indies at Saint
Augustine, Saint Augustine,
Trinidad and Tobago.
DOI 10.1108/JFP-03-2018-0011 VOL. 20 NO. 4 2018, pp. 249-256, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8794
j
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PRACTICE
j
PAG E 2 4 9
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
