Cultural competence in correctional mental health

Cultural competence is an essential aspect of competence as a mental health professional. In this article, the framework of cultural competence developed in general psychiatry—acquiring knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand the interaction between culture and the individual—is applied to the prison setting. Race and ethnicity, extremes of age, gender, and religion are highlighted and examined as elements of the overall culture of prisons. The model of the cultural formulation from the DSM-IV is then adapted for use by clinicians in the correctional setting, with particular emphasis on the interaction between the inmate's culture of origin and the unique culture of the prison environment.