Abstract

It is recognized that one of the major issues in jail management is how to deal with the needs of a growing number of inmates with mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to assess the nature and severity of mental health problems among inmates. The mental health status of 1,500(1,337 responded) inmates of the 30 prisons nationwide was examined using Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI). And the scores on MMPI were examined in relation to some offender characteristics such as type of offence, treatment classification, frequency of discipline. The result indicates that the percentage of inmate population with scores over 70 on every sub-categories of the scale is higher than that of general populations reflecting high rate of deviation from normal mental health. It seems likely that many inmates are in need of specific mental health services. The nature and severity of mental health problems varies depending on offender characteristics. It is also notable that the inmates are heterogeneous in terms of mental health status, and that severe offences such as robbery, assault, and rape or sexual assault are highly related to the scores on 'antisocial' subcategory. The study also reveals that there is a relation, if nor causal, between mental health problem and frequency of discipline while in prison. Under the basis of these findings, this study concludes that large proportion of prison inmates in Korea have mental health problems requiring treatment services and suggests five key steps to effectively respond to the prevalence of mental health problems in prison at both the level of the clinical interventions and at the level of system structure and organization. Specially, the importance of collaborative service strategies of the correctional system with mental health systems are underlined.