Statistical Models to Predict Mental Illness Among State and Federal Prisoners

• NCJ Number: 252633
• Author(s): Jeremy Aldworth; Phillip Kott, RTI International; Sarra Hedden, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (former); Joseph Gfroerer (former consultant); Lauren G. Beatty, Bureau of Justice Statistics
• Date Published: June 2021
• Length: 121 pages
• Grant Number(s): HHSS283201000003C
• Agencies: BJS-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Third-Party Report; Report (Grant-Sponsored)

Abstract

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) developed a model-based methodology to obtain nationally representative estimates of serious mental illness (SMI) and any mental illness (AMI) among the adult U.S. civilian, non-institutionalized population in the 2008-12 Mental Health Surveillance Study (MHSS) as part of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). This paper examines the feasibility of adapting and applying this methodology to 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI) data, collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), to obtain nationally representative estimates of SMI and AMI among state and federal prisoners.