Prevalence & Correlates of Mental Health Problems among Awaiting Trial Inmates in a Prison Facility in Ibadan, Nigeria

Introduction

Prevalence of mental health problems are frequently higher within the prison populations than the general population. Previous studies of prison mental health had focused on convict populations whereas, the awaiting trial segment of the prison population in Nigeria has gradually become the majority of the total lock-up. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of mental health problems among the awaiting trial inmates in a prison facility in Ibadan.

Methods

A cross sectional study design was employed to interview 725 awaiting trial inmates of Agodi Prison, Ibadan, Nigeria. A two phase procedure was utilized with initial screening using a socio-demographic questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ −12); followed by a second phase with all high scorers on the GHQ −12 and 10% of the low scorers using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Inventory (MINI).

Results

A total of 394 respondents participated in the second phase of the study with a mean age of 31.1 years (SD = 8.7), with ages ranging from 18 – 70 years. The mean duration of incarceration at Agodi was 1.1 years (SD = 1.47), with a range of 1 week to 10 years. The prevalence of mental illness was 56.6% with the commonest conditions being depression (20.8%), alcohol dependence (20.6%), substance dependence (20.1%), suicidality (19.8%) and antisocial personality disorder (18%).

Conclusion

There is a high prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders among awaiting trial inmates but this does not appear to be significantly different from that of convict populations.

Table 2

Prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders among the awaiting trial inmates

Diagnosis	Frequency	% (n=394)
Depression	82	20.8
Alcohol dependence	81	20.6
Substance dependence	79	20.1
Suicidality	78	19.8
Antisocial PD	71	18.0
Alcohol abuse	41	10.4
Panic (total)	33	8.3
Current with agoraphobia	21	5.3
Panic without agoraphobia	6	1.5
Agoraphobia without panic	6	1.5
Social phobia (total)	31	7.9
Current, generalized	22	5.6
Current, not generalized	9	2.3
OCD	22	5.6
Medical/Organic	19	4.8
PTSD	13	3.3
Generalized Anxiety Disorder	11	2.8
Psychosis	4	1.1
Anorexia	0	0.0
Bulimia	0	0.0
Overall prevalence of mental illness	223	56.6

Table 3

Association between diagnosis of mental illness and variables

Variable	% with depression	N	P value
Age(years)
18–24	56.6	83	0.722
25–29	58.7	109
30–34	59.3	91
35+	52.3	111
Level of education
None	61.5	39	0.818
Primary	55.3	161
Secondary	55.4	148
Tertiary	60.9	46
Religion
Islam	54.7	179	0.465
Christianity	58.4	214
Employment status
Employed	57.2	353	0.463
Unemployed	51.2	41
Average monthly income
None	53.4	58	0.421
Less than 20000	53.0	132
20000 – 50000	56.8	118
50000+	64.0	86
Marital status
Single	58.3	163	0.769
Married	55.8	215
Separated/divorce/late	50.0	16
Time spent in Agodi prison
Less than 6 months	54.9	164	0.331
6–12ths	64.4	73
More than 1 year	54.8	157
Position in cell
Yes	64.6	65	0.154
No	55.0	329
Number of previous arrests
None	54.8	330	0.112
1	59.5	42
2+	77.3	22
Frequency of visits from outside the prison
Daily/Weekly	43.1	102	0.006
Less frequent than weekly	60.9	169
Never	61.8	123

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/PHi7bW

By:   JO Abdulmalik,1 BO Adedokun,2 and OO Baiyewu1

¹Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

2

2

²Department of Epidemiology, Medical Statistics, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

   

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