Psychological characteristics as correlates of emotional burden in incarcerated offenders in Nigeria

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the demographic and psychosocial characteristics of incarcerated offenders in a Nigerian prison and investigate their relationship with psychiatric morbidity. Design: A cross-sectional study employing the 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and the depression sub-scale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS-Depression). Setting: A medium security prison located in Ilesa, a semi-urban community in Southwestern Nigeria. Subjects: Three hundred and three prison inmates. Results: Out of the 352 inmates, 49 (13.9%) refused to participate in the study. There was a preponderance of male offenders (96.4%), and majority (59.3%) was awaiting trial. Thirteen inmates (4.3%) had been imprisoned before (i.e., before current imprisonment). Less than half (34%) reported enjoying good mental health in prison while 11 (3.7%) gave history of previous mental disorder before imprisonment. Majority reported the level of visitation and financial assistance by relatives and friends as poor. Also, majority reported prison accommodation and feeding as poor while less than a half of the sample were satisfied with the level of available health care. Majority of the inmates scored above the cutoff points on the measures of psychopathology. These were 87.8% and 85.3% on the GHQ-30 and the HADS-Depression Sub-scale respectively. Significant relationship was observed between GHQ-30 'caseness' and awaiting trial status, and also with reporting current mental health; prison accommodation and prison feeding as poor. In addition, significant depressive symptoms were associated with being a Muslim or traditional religion worshipper; lower education; single, divorced or separated marital status, and appraisal of current mental health as poor. Conclusion: The results are largely similar to findings from the developed world. Improving living condition and provision of basic needs of the prisoners appear essential for the promotion of their mental health.

Prevalence of Depression in Port Harcourt Prison

“…It was in a study by Fatoye, in Ilesha Nigeria, the youngest was 15 years of old, while the oldest was 70 years old with a mean of 31.2 years [14]. The mean age of 33.7 years in a similar study in South Africa [23], was consistent with the mean age found in this study.…”

“…In 47 surveys (12, 859 prisoners) that included information on age, weighted mean age of prisoners was 29 years [9]. There was preponderance of subjects belonging to age group 30 years and below in a previous study [14] which is in conformity with the finding in this study, that there was preponderance of inmates below 30 years. The higher preponderance among males may be explained by fact that crime rate is higher among males and they are also more likely to reoffend.…”

“…Assadi et al, in 2006 found that 29% met the criteria for major depressive disorder [31] an average prevalence of 10% for major depression among male prisoners and 12% for females [14]. A prison survey in the United States in 2006, found that 24% of state prison inmates, 16% of federal inmates and 30% of local jail inmates had a major depressive disorder [30,34].…”

“…This may be so because the health systems in developing countries is poorly organized and poorly funded, as compared with the health care system in industrialized countries [14]. Two major problems face correction/prisons administration today in the greater part of the globe -inadequate funding, and over-crowding.…”

“…In Nigeria, as in most countries, prison systems shoulder the burden of providing healthcare services. They are, however, ill-equipped to perform this responsibility, due to limited resources (human and capital), corruption and the ever-increasing number of inmates [14]. In many countries (including Nigeria), prison establishments are struggling to provide minimal mental health services to prisoners, and only a few have exposure to psychiatrists [15].…”