Women who challenge - Nacro

Women who challenge: women offenders and mental health issues%Chart 3 Substance misuse by prisoner typeand sex70605040302010Table 2Prevalence of personality disorder inthe prison populationType of Male Male Female 16personality remand sentenceddisorder % % %Any personality disorder 78 64 50Anti-social 63 49 31Paranoid 29 20 16Borderline 23 14 200FemaleremandDrug dependencyFemalesentencedOpiate dependencyMaleremandMalesentencedHazardous drinkingSource: Office for National Statistics (1998) Psychiatric MorbidityAmong Women Prisoners in England and Wales London: Office forNational StatisticsSource: Office for National Statistics (2001) Psychiatric MorbidityAmong Women Prisoners in England and Wales London: Office forNational Statisticsa significant role in the development of drugsmarkets and vice versa, one of the results beingan intensification of the threats posed tovulnerable individuals by drug markets. Thismay be a relevant factor in relation to drugdependency in some women offenders.In addition to high levels of drug misuse, theONS survey also found evidence of a significantp roblem with alcohol misuse, with 38% ofwomen prisoners re p o rting patterns of alcoholconsumption at hazardous levels prior toimprisonment. This is, nevertheless, significantlylower than the levels in the male prisonerpopulation which are 58% for male remand and63% for male sentenced prisoners. The levels ofsubstance misuse are illustrated in Chart 3 andthe issue is considered further in Chapter 3.Personality disorderPart of the diagnostic criteria for anti-socialpersonality disorder is that the individualshould have exhibited anti-social behaviourbefore the age of 15 years, which persists intoadulthood. It is, therefore, unsurprising thathigh prevalence rates for this disorder shouldbe found in offender populations. What is lessobvious is that other types of personalitydisorder should also have high prevalence rates,as shown by the following figures for the mostcommon types:Some features, such as disregard for the safetyand well-being of other people, or their feelingsor property, are common to a number ofcategories of personality disorder and do makeoffending behaviour more likely. Closerexamination of the characteristics of those withpersonality disorder 17 reveals that prevalencerates decrease with age so that, whereas only14% of 16 to 20 year olds (when offending ismore common) show no signs of personalitydisorder, that proportion increases to 50%among those aged 45 and over. Marital statusalso appears to be significant with 45% ofmarried women prisoners showing no evidenceof personality disorder compared to 24% of thegroup as a whole. This difference was alsoreflected among male prisoners with 32% ofmarried male remand prisoners showing noevidence of personality disorder compared to20% overall, and 43% of married male sentencedprisoners revealing no evidence compared to27% overall.PsychosisWhile the prevalence of personality disorder infemale prisoners is lower than that in their malecounterparts, the same does not apply when itcomes to functional psychosis. The prevalenceof functional psychosis found in womenprisoners was 14%, considerably higher than thelevel in the general population, which is around1%, and also considerably higher than thatfound in earlier surveys, such as that referredto above which found a level of 2% 18 . As16 Prevalence of personality disorder was measured using structuredclinical interview and the female sample is not broken down intoremand and sentenced prisoners.17 O’Brien M et al (2001) op cit18 Maden A et al (1994) op citpage 11