Offenders with Mental Disorders in a South African Prison Population: Profiling the Behavioural Characteristics on Mental Illness

Abstract

This study validates a protocol to identify inmates with institutional adjustment difficulty from mental disorder, and who might have a need for therapeutic programming of a cognitive nature. The Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ) was administered to a total of 236 South African male inmates of whom 102 were diagnosed with mental health disorders, mostly Schizophrenia and psychotic related disorders (44%). The data were analysed using a variety of multivariate procedures, including logistical regression to model the behavioural characteristics to the inmates' mental health state. Findings suggest that there are significant differences between mentally ill and non-mentally ill participants. The subscales of anger, criminal tendencies and anti-social personality have a significantly higher mean score for mentally ill respondents, while the subscale “conduct problems” remains a borderline case.

Keywords:

• offenders
• risk assessment
• mental health disorders
• Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ)