Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners in England and Wales

Key facts

Survey coverage: England and Wales
Set Sample size: 3,563
Response Rate: 88%

Why was the survey carried out?

The survey was commissioned by the Department of Health (DH) and the High Security Psychiatric Services Commissioning Board and fieldwork was carried out between September and December 1997.

The survey aimed to provide up-to-date baseline information about the prevalence of psychiatric problems among male and female, remand and sentenced prisoners in order to inform policy decisions about services.

During 1998-99 the initial analysis of this survey was completed and the results published. In addition, secondary analysis of the data to provide further information on personality disorder, substance misuse, non-fatal suicide behaviour, women prisoners and young offenders was commissioned by DH and the Prison Service.

How was the survey done?

Prisoners were randomly selected from a list of all inmates at the start of fieldwork in that prison. There were two stages of interviews. First all selected prisoners were asked to take part in an intial interview covering all topic areas. A random sub-sample of 1 in 5 of these respondents were then asked to take part in a second interview which covered psychotic disorder and personality disorder in more detail. Both interviews were carried out using computer-assisted personal interviewing. All prisons in England and Wales took part and, among selected prisoners, a response rate of 88% full interviews was achieved at the initial interview stage, with 76% of those randomly selected for a follow-up clinical interview being contacted and interviewed. This resulted in a total of 3142 full interviews at the initial stage and 505 follow-up interviews.

Where can the results be found?

• A First Release of data from the survey was issued in June 1998.
• The main report "Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners in England and Wales" by Singleton et al, ISBN 0 11 621045, price £45, was published in early October 1998.and can be ordered online from TSO or by calling +44 870 600 5533.
• A free summary report "Psychiatric morbidity among prisoners: summary report" can be downloaded in Adobe format by clicking here or obtained through the contact numbers given below.

Further analysis of the data has also been carried out looking at specific topics in more detail and the following reports are available from NS Direct, tel: +44 (0) 1633 812078, price £15. To view the Press Releases which give some key findings from each of the reports click on the report title.

• "Substance misuse among prisoners in England & Wales" by Singleton et al.
• "Non-fatal suicidal behaviour among prisoners" by Meltzer et al.
• "Psychiatric Morbidity among Young Offenders in England and Wales" by Lader et al.
• "Psychiatric Morbidity among Women Prisoners in England & Wales" by O'Brien et al.

Some key findings from the survey showed that:

• The proportion of respondents with significant neurotic symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and phobias, in the week before interview were far higher than found in a similar household survey and ranged from 39% of male sentenced to 75% of female remand prisoners.
• Fourteen per cent of women, 10% of men on remand and 7% of sentenced men in a random sub-sample who took part in a follow-up clinical interview were assessed as having a functional psychosis (such as schizophrenia or manic depression) in the year prior to interview.
• Among those who had a clinical interview, over three-quarters of men on remand and nearly half of those who were sentenced were considered to have a personality disorder, as were half of the women interviewed.
• The majority (ranging from 69% of female sentenced to 85% of male remand prisoners) of prisoners had used illicit drugs at some time in their lives and more than half of the prisoners reported using at least one drug in the year before coming to prison.
• Women were about twice as likely as men to report having received help for mental or emotional problems in the year before coming to prison: 40% of both remand and sentenced women reported having done so compared with 21% of male remand and 18% of male sentenced respondents.

For more information about SSD or the surveys we carry out contact:
SSD Project Support Branch Tel: +44 (0)20 7533 5500 or e-mail: ssdpsb@ons.gov.uk

This page last revised: Monday, 1 July 2002