The proposed study explores the relationship between mental health and disruptiveness in correctional institutions. In centers on the inmate who is both a chronic disciplinary problem (a violator of prison rules) and a mental health problem (reliably classifiable as emotionally disturbed). The careers of such inmates will be chronologically summarized, and their """"""""disturbed disruptive"""""""" syndromes will be analyzed and subcategorized. Comparisons will be made between disturbed disruptive, disruptive nondisturbed, disturbed nondisruptive and nondisruptive nondisturbed inmates. Management reactions will be mapped, risk factors will be isolated and prevalence estimated. The research plan includes an entry cohort of 3,000 inmates and a cohort of 500 """"""""higher risk"""""""" inmates. A release cohort of 3,000 inmates will also be selected. These samples will be used to explore relationships between inmate characteristics and behavior patterns and to chart institutional careers of disturbed and/or disruptive inmates. A staff-nominated, record-supplemented sample of disturbed disruptive inmates will be selected in one prison for in-depth investigation, to develop a typology of disturbed disruptive careers, to account for links between behaviors, and to consider their implications for treatment. The study provides for data feedback, for case conferences by prison and mental health staff (to map treatment programs for DDIs), and a workshop for mental health and corrections executives to evolve and design a model for DDI treatment.
