Individuals serving time in correctional facilities, including adults and youths of both sexes, have a higher prevalence of mental illness compared with the general population. Several factors contribute to mental illness in this population, including:
• a higher level of adverse childhood experiences
• these individuals not receiving appropriate community-based treatment
• Lack of continuity of treatment often means factors leading to rearrests, like substance use are not properly treated
• With strained budgets and inadequate resources, many prisoners do not receive sufficient or appropriate treatment. The barriers inherent to incarceration prevent both the adequate treatment of mental illnesses and the resolution of factors that contribute to recidivism.
The focus of this Research Topic is on mental health issues within correctional populations, and the need to develop innovative treatment to ameliorate mental health issues with this population. This may include improved medication through change in formulary expansion, the increase of tele-health services to inmates and parolees, and improved risk assessment so treatment can target both ideograph and nomothetic factors that support ongoing risk.
This Research Topic welcomes original research, systematic review, review, policy and practice reviews, brief research reports, and general commentaries exploring the following themes through a theoretical and empirical approach:
• the prevalence of mental illness amongst youth and adult prison populations
• treatment modalities and protocols available to inmates
• innovative treatments, such as advances in telehealth, that may decrease the discrepancy of treatments
• the link between mental illness and criminal behavior, including violence
• the role of substance use in violent offending
• how treatment may reduce reoffending following release from prison
• novel approaches to community follow-up ensuring some continuity of care.
Individuals serving time in correctional facilities, including adults and youths of both sexes, have a higher prevalence of mental illness compared with the general population. Several factors contribute to mental illness in this population, including:
• a higher level of adverse childhood experiences
• these individuals not receiving appropriate community-based treatment
• Lack of continuity of treatment often means factors leading to rearrests, like substance use are not properly treated
• With strained budgets and inadequate resources, many prisoners do not receive sufficient or appropriate treatment. The barriers inherent to incarceration prevent both the adequate treatment of mental illnesses and the resolution of factors that contribute to recidivism.
The focus of this Research Topic is on mental health issues within correctional populations, and the need to develop innovative treatment to ameliorate mental health issues with this population. This may include improved medication through change in formulary expansion, the increase of tele-health services to inmates and parolees, and improved risk assessment so treatment can target both ideograph and nomothetic factors that support ongoing risk.
This Research Topic welcomes original research, systematic review, review, policy and practice reviews, brief research reports, and general commentaries exploring the following themes through a theoretical and empirical approach:
• the prevalence of mental illness amongst youth and adult prison populations
• treatment modalities and protocols available to inmates
• innovative treatments, such as advances in telehealth, that may decrease the discrepancy of treatments
• the link between mental illness and criminal behavior, including violence
• the role of substance use in violent offending
• how treatment may reduce reoffending following release from prison
• novel approaches to community follow-up ensuring some continuity of care.
