Highlights Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates

At midyear 2005 more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem, including 705,600 inmates in State prisons, 70,200 in Fed-eral prisons, and 479,900 in local jails. These estimates represented 56 % of State prisoners, 45 % of Federal prison-ers, and 64 % of jail inmates. The find-ings in this report were based on data from personal interviews with State and Federal prisoners in 2004 and local jail inmates in 2002. Mental health problems were defined by two measures: a recent history or symp-toms of a mental health problem. They must have occurred in the 12 months prior to the interview. A recent history of mental health problems included a clini-cal diagnosis or treatment by a mental health professional. Symptoms of a mental disorder were based on criteria specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edi-tion (DSM-IV)