Mental Health Status of Prisoners in Japan

• In Event: Criminal Risk Among People with Mental Illness

Abstract

In Japan, The Prison Law was revised, and the Act on Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees was enacted (2006).
Due to these, the Rehabilitation Guidance program is now required for sentenced inmates who are considered to have a higher likelihood for recidivism.
Such guidance program have been constructed with the efforts to meet the individuality of each offender. However, issues still remain regarding each aspect of guidance.
We signed a joint research agreement with a prison. This purpose was to develop greater understanding toward the inmates and to establish and provide an appropriate program for those offenders. First, we began researching together for mental health status and behavior problems.
In this investigation, we investigated about the state of the mental health in 2 prisons. We used the WHO-SUBI. And, we have investigated the association between　punishment. In addition, we also investigated motivation to treatment.

Author

• Aika Tomoto, Center for Forensic Mental Health, Chiba University