Profile of Male Forensic Patients in a Canadian Correctional Psychiatric Facility

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High prevalence rates of mental disorder among justice-involved persons continues to be a concern for policy makers in correctional settings. To address the needs of patients and develop decisive institutional policies, the profile of patients needs to be identified and the proportion of mental disorders should be estimated more precisely at the institutional level. This study determined the profile of male forensic psychiatric patients (n = 2,362) admitted at a regional psychiatric centre in Canada between 1995 and 2010. Substance Use and Antisocial Personality Disorders were the most prevalent disorders within the sample and had highest rates of comorbidity with other disorders. These two disorders also co-occurred with all other types of Axis I and Axis II disorders at a very high rate. Indigenous patients had significantly higher rates of Substance Use Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Intellectual Disability, whereas Non-Indigenous patients had significantly higher rates of Mood/Affective Disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychotic disorders, and Other Axis I and Axis II disorders. The re-conviction rates of the patients were relatively higher than those found in the previous research. Findings will help mental health institutions develop appropriate policies to address the diverse needs of forensic patients and contribute to the provision of evidence-based correctional programs.

This study has some limitations due to the nature and extent of the data used in the analyses. First, although the findings are consistent with the literature and relevant to the current treatment policies thanks to the longitudinal recidivism findings, the study should be replicated with the updated data to better understand the current needs in the mental health system. Second, RPC is one of the five regional forensic psychiatric centres in Canada. The profile of the male forensic patients admitted to RPC cannot be generalized to the rest of the country. Future studies should analyze data collected from the other four centres to draw a more comprehensive profile of forensic psychiatric patients in federal institutions across Canada. Finally, this study only examined male patients. Mental disorders among female patients should also be examined in future research as they are likely to have a different profile and corresponding mental health needs than male patients.

This study was an initial attempt to identify the profile of forensic patients admitted to a Canadian psychiatric treatment centre. Our study provided a profile of male forensic psychiatric patients at this centre between 1995 and 2010. Findings indicated high prevalence of Substance Use and Antisocial Personality Disorders and high co-occurrence rates of these disorders with all other types of Axis I and Axis II disorders. An important finding was the higher rates of Substance Use Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Intellectual Disability among Indigenous patients than non-Indigenous patients. We also found that non-Indigenous patients have higher rates of Mood/Affective Disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychotic disorders, and Other Axis I and Axis II disorders than Indigenous patients. More research with up to date and more comprehensive data is needed to better understand the profile of forensic patients. Despite the limitation of our data, these findings can contribute to the growing literature on profiling forensic patients; helping mental health institutions develop appropriate policies to address the diverse needs of forensic patients; and contributing to the provision of evidence-based correctional programs.