Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in detainees serving imprisonment as an alternative punishment for failure to pay penalty fees: A longitudinal study

The four study populations, consisting of 100 participants each, showed a high prevalence of mental disorders and were therefore mostly unable to apply for serving voluntary work as alternative to imprisonment. As the prevalence of mental disorders was largely consistent over the investigation timeframe, it seems advisable to make a psychopathological diagnosis at the start of imprisonment in order to filter out those detainees that would benefit from social training in order to enhance their competency to solve problems, strengthen their social skills and enhance their quality of life outside of the penal institution. In addition, as the compensation prisoners exhibited a high degree of substance abuse, it would be recommendable to assess the presence of substance abuse at the beginning of imprisonment. Then, appropriate measures could be taken to reduce the number of reoffenders and enable the temporary detainees to reintegrate successfully into society.