Only one prisoner in ten showed no
evidence of any mental disorder and no
more than two out of ten had only one disorder.
Ten per cent of men on remand and
14% of all female prisoners had shown
signs of psychotic illness in the year prior
to interview in prison compared with
0.4% in the general household population
(Meltzer et al, 1994), and 59% of remanded
men and 76%of remanded women
had a neurotic disorder. Over a quarter of
female remand prisoners reported attempting
suicide in the preceding year and 2%
of both male and female remand prisoners
reported having attempted suicide in the
week before interview. Fifty-eight per cent
of men and 36% of women on remand
met the criteria for previous hazardous
drinking, and 66% of remanded women
had misused drugs in the year prior to entry
into prison. Comorbidity was the norm;
seven out of ten prisoners had more than
one disorder, and those with functional
psychosis were likely to have three or four
other disorders.