Outcome of referral to a prison mental health team

This retrospective case note study describes the demographic, offence and diagnostic characteristics of 115 referrals made to a psychiatric service within HMP Perth between May 2003 and April 2004. Twenty per cent of referrals were diagnosed with a major mental illness with remand prisoners having a higher overall prevalence. Nearly 70% had previous contact with psychiatric services, a similar percentage had previous substance misuse. Over 8% were transferred out of prison and over a quarter continued to be followed up at the end of the study period. A wide range of index offences was seen. Over two-thirds had a previous history of offending and nearly 60% had a previous custodial sentence, reflecting a high degree of recidivism. This study supports the high degree of psychiatric morbidity in the prison population shown in other studies. The role of a prison psychiatric service is discussed in the context of services to mentally disordered offenders.