Hospitalization Experience of Mentally Disturbed and Disruptive, Incarcerated Offenders

This paper explores briefly the handling of disturbed and disruptive offenders, the extent to which such offenders have been subject to previous hospitalization in mental health facilities, and some implications for their future care and custody. In New England's maximum security institutions nearly 60% of 365 offenders, identified as both disruptive and diagnosed as having some type of psychiatric disturbance, were admitted at least once to a state mental hospital. The average number of admissions was 2.6 per offender amounting to an average of 230.4 days of hospitalization or approximately 3 months per admission. Although the number of such offenders is small, the extent of previous hospitalizations suggests that it is imperative that correctional and mental health authorities work more closely together to plan jointly for the care, custody and treatment of this population. The development of regional mental health programs and facilities should continue to be explored.