Transinstitutionalization in the Human Service Sector An Examination of Female Population Movement Between Mental Health and Correctional Institutions

• NCJ Number: 106199
• Author(s): L K Holt; S A Mattes
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 43 pages
• Corporate Author: Massachusetts Dept of Correction
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Time-series analyses of mental health histories of adult women incarcerated in Massachusetts fail to support the assertion by corrections officials that changes in the mental health system have been associated with increases in the numbers of mentally ill offenders being placed in correctional institutions.

Abstract

The sample population consisted of all women committed to the Massachusetts Department of Correction during 1970, 1975, and 1980, for a total of 450. Results indicted that many women entering the correctional system have prior inpatient placements in public mental health facilities. However, the findings did not show how an increasingly larger transfer of the female population from the mental health to the correctional setting over time. The proportion of women with prior inpatient placements declined from 39 percent in 1970 to 19 percent in 1975 and then rose to 22 percent in 1980. While data indicated that the type of women moving between the two systems is changing, this change can be attributed in part to changes in the criminal justice system such as the decriminalization of drunkenness. Comparisons made over the 3-year sampling period revealed no trends toward increasing levels of criminal involvement among those with prior placements in the mental health system. Women moving between the two systems, other than those incarcerated for drunkenness, generally had not been extensively involved with the mental health system as measured by number of admissions or length of institutionalization. 20 tables.