Disciplinary Responses to Misconduct among Female Prison Inmates with Mental Illness, Substance Use Disorders & Co-Occurring Disorders

OBJECTIVE:

Most female inmates have mental health, substance use, or co-occurring disorders (CODs), which can create greater difficulty adjusting to incarceration and higher rates of prison misconduct. The response of prison officials to institutional misbehaviors has important implications for female inmates' experiences while incarcerated, their likelihood of parole, and the clinical course of their condition. This article examined whether disciplinary actions are more severe for women with CODs.

METHOD:

Data were provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for all female state prison inmates incarcerated between January 1, 2007, and July 30, 2009 (N = 2,279). The final sample of 211 women included those who had committed a minor misconduct during their incarceration. Disorder categories were created based on intake assessments, and multivariate models were estimated to determine the effect of disorder category on whether the prison imposed a severe or minor disciplinary response to the misconduct.

RESULTS:

The odds of receiving severe disciplinary responses to minor misconduct was significantly greater for women with CODs than those with the singular disorders of mental illness or substance abuse disorders, or those with no disorders.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:

Findings suggest correctional institutions are responding in a punitive manner to the symptomatic manifestations of CODs in female inmates. These findings suggest the importance of screening instruments in correctional settings that assess for the presence of dual disorders. In addition, correctional administrators must implement training protocols for correctional officers and staff on the complexity of CODs and the ability to identify behavioral and emotional symptoms associated with this vulnerable subset of the offender population. 

Purchase full article at:   http://goo.gl/q184xm

By:   Houser K1, Belenko S2.

• 1Department of Law and Justice Studies.
• 2Department of Criminal Justice, Temple University. 

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Profiles of Psychiatric Disorders among Heroin Dependent Individuals in Changsha, China

The strong comorbidity of psychiatric and substance use disorders is well documented outside of China, however it has not been studied extensively among drug using individuals in China. This study evaluated patterns of co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders among heroin dependent individuals in Changsha, China.

Participants were 1002 individuals consecutively admitted between March 10 and October 30, 2008 into two compulsory and one voluntary drug rehabilitation centers in Changsha. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders-Patient Edition (SCID-I/P) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis II personality Disorders (SCID-II) were used.

Mental health disorders were highly prevalent among study participants: 29.6% had at least one lifetime DSM-IV Axis I and 19.5% had at least one current (past month) Axis I mental health disorder. Antisocial (40.7%) and Borderline (22.6%) Personality Disorders were most prevalent DSM-IV Axis II lifetime diagnoses and a mood disorder (19.1%) was the most prevalent Axis I lifetime disorder; 57.8% had other substance use disorder in addition to opioid dependence. Study results indicate that females in compulsory settings have lower socio-economic status than males in compulsory settings, and that males in compulsory settings have higher rates of co-morbidities, including personality, mood disorders, substance use co-morbidities, and lower socio-economic status than males in the voluntary setting.

The study findings suggest an urgent need to expand and improve diagnostic and treatment capabilities in compulsory rehabilitation settings in China and a need for additional services and interventions specific for female rehabilitants.

Full article at: http://goo.gl/zyAgVd

By: Mei Yang,a,b Yanhui Liao,a Qiang Wang,c Marek C. Chawarski,d,** and Wei Haoa,*

^aMental Health Institute, Technology Institute of Psychiatry and Key Laboratory of Psychiatry of Hunan Province, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China

^bDepartment of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China

^cDepartment of Psychiatry, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

^dDepartment of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, USA

   

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