Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of mental disorders among prisoners with a short prison term.
Methods: We investigated 102 participants with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID I and II) and the Symptom Check List (SCL-90).
Results: We found a lifetime-prevalence of mental disorders (axis I) of 83 %. 80 % of the participants showed at least one personality disorder.
Conclusions: These results indicate that short-term prisoners are a population which is highly troubled in a psychiatric sense and shows a need of treatment in prison.