Inmates’ Mental Health and Violent Outcomes: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Objective: The present study intends to examine (a) the prevalence of mental health problems among male and female detainees and (b) the role of different conditions on various violence-related outcomes among remand prisoners. To advance these primary objectives, the study additionally aims to explore the validity of the Jail Screening Assessment Tool (JSAT), developed to identify mental health problems in jails and prisons. Method: This study included a total of 198 individuals who were in prison awaiting trial between July 2021 and March 2023. Results: This study revealed that JSAT shows good psychometric properties in terms of item sensibility, convergent and discriminant validity, and known-groups validity. Our results showed that, generally, the most prevalent problems were anxiety, depression, and blame. In addition, our findings confirmed that women reported more somatic problems, anxiety, depression, suicide, and motor retardation, while men reported a higher prevalence of blunted affect and motor hyperactivity. Moreover, this study revealed that JSAT dimensions are associated with measures of violent behavior. Our results showed that certain dimensions, such as suspiciousness and motor retardation, were found to predict multiple violence-related outcomes. Conclusions: Overall, this study denoted that JSAT has promising results in different validity and sensibility markers, shedding light on its contribution to understanding the influence of mental health conditions on violent behaviors.