Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1439-1444
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Rate of psychiatric morbidity in a metropolitan county jail population
J Petrich
The author describes social-psychiatric characteristics of 122 jail inmates
examined while awaiting trail, 80% of them on felony charges. The estimated
overall rate of psychiatric illness was 4.6%. The patient sample was
significantly older and contained significantly more minority group men
than the jail population as a whole. Thirty-six percent of the patients
diagnosed as schizophrenic were arrested on misdemeanor charges. Drug
dependency was diagnosed in 51% of the men but in only 15% of the women.
Psychosis was diagnosed more frequently and alcoholism, anxiety neurosis,
and antisocial personality less frequently than in studies of prison
populations using similar diagnostic criteria.
