Association between type of Crime and Length of Incarceration in the Manifestations of Psychopathological Symptoms among Prison Inmates

Abstract

Literature review have shown that mental illness can be higher up to 34 to 57% in prisons than general population but research is scanty in the manifestation of psychopathological symptoms especially in Nigeria. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between types of crime and length of incarceration in the manifestation of  psychopathological symptoms among Prison inmates. The total number of participants was 257, made up of 237 males and 20 females with an average age of 33.4years. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which comprises of validated measures of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ28) and a section for demographic variables. Two hypotheses were tested at p=0.05 level of significance. Zero-order correlation was used to test the two hypotheses. Results showed that participants who stays longer (Length of Incarceration) reported more psychopathological symptoms (R = 0.786, p < .01) while correlation with types of crime and time of awaiting trial was not significant (R = 0.012, p > .05) and (R = 0.107, p > .05). Looking at the different psychopathological symptoms, anxiety/insomnia symptoms and severe depression only showed a significant positive correlation with length of incarceration (R = 0.183, p < .01) and (R = 0.162, p < .05). However, the result also revealed that somatic symptoms and social dysfunctions did not have significant correlation with any of these variables (duration of incarceration, level of crime and time of awaiting trial). These findings were discussed and there is need to enhance the mental health status of inmates for continual adaptation to the prison environment was recommended.