Where can I find information and statistics about mentally ill offenders who are in prison?

Answer

We have a library research guide that includes a section on statistics sources in corrections (the overall term for prisons and jails). You can find that section here:
http://library.uhd.edu/content.php?pid=94963&sid=1104645.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has a report called “Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates,” published in 2006. You can find a link to the report here:
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mhppji.pdf. The report is based on a survey, not on a regularly collected data product. The report is somewhat outdated, but it seems to be what most people quote when discussing the issue. As long as you’re clear about what the date of the information is, you could use this as a credible source.

You could also go through the links on the guide linked in the first paragraph above to see if any of those sources cover mental illness in prisoners. You may also want to search LibSearch (the search box on the library’s home page at http://www.uhd.edu/library/) to see if there are any published articles with more recent statistics. For information on how to use LibSearch, see https://prezi.com/hozyfernrmxs/welcome-to-uhd-libsearch/.

  • Last Updated May 08, 2020
  • Views 52
  • Answered By UHD Librarian

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