Rate of psychiatric morbidity in a metropolitan county jail population

The author describes social-psychiatric characteristics of 122 jail inmates examined while awaiting trail, 80% of them on felony charges. The estimated overall rate of psychiatric illness was 4.6%. The patient sample was significantly older and contained significantly more minority group men than the jail population as a whole. Thirty-six percent of the patients diagnosed as schizophrenic were arrested on misdemeanor charges. Drug dependency was diagnosed in 51% of the men but in only 15% of the women. Psychosis was diagnosed more frequently and alcoholism, anxiety neurosis, and antisocial personality less frequently than in studies of prison populations using similar diagnostic criteria.