Abstract
Context: Imprisoned people are very much vulnerable to develop mental health problems. Some prisoners develop mental health problem before detainment and some develops after detainment. Aim: Present study assessed psychiatric morbidity in under trial prisoners. Materials and Methods: Based on purposive sampling technique, thirty three under trail inmates were selected from psychiatric inmate ward of RINPAS, Ranchi, India. Thirty three normal participants were selected from the general population. Both the groups were matched on age, gender, education, occupation, marital status and residence. All participants were assessed on MCMI-III. Results and Conclusions: Obtained responses were scored by using standard scoring procedure and subsequently statistically analyzed by using χ2 test. Result discovered that under trial inmates group had more psychiatric morbidity, pathological personality traits and disorders in comparison to their normal counterparts. The most widespread psychiatric disorder among under trial inmates group was anxiety disorder, followed by alcohol dependence, drug dependence, major depression, delusional disorder, dysthymic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, thought disorder and bipolar manic disorder. Antisocial, depressive and schizoid personality disorders were prominent in under trial inmates group followed by negativistic, schizotypal, avoidant, sadistic, and borderline personality disorder.

Key words: Psychiatric Morbidity, Under Trial, Crime