Objective: This study examined trends in the availability and use of mental health services in state adult correctional facilities.
Methods: Results from the 1988 Inventory of Mental Health Services in State Adult Correctional Facilities of the Center for Mental Health Services were compared with those from the 2000 Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities survey of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The two surveys were chosen because they occurred more than a decade apart, had a reasonable amount of data, and could be made comparable.
Results: This analysis used data from 757 state adult correctional facilities that were sampled in 1988. The number of such facilities increased to 1,097 in 2000, a 44.9 percent increase. A dramatic increase was also seen in the prison population, from 505,712 in 1988 to 1,084,625 in 2000, a 114.5 percent increase. Mental health services were offered in significantly more facilities in 2000 than in 1988. However, the relative percentage of facilities that offered mental health services decreased overall. Simultaneously, the percentage of inmates who used these services increased overall.
Conclusions: The growth in prison facilities and the growth in prisoner populations are outstripping the more meager growth in mental health services. These results suggest that mental health services are becoming less available to the prison population, and service populations are becoming more concentrated in the facilities that do offer such services.