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Introduction

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Mental Health in Prisons

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

Prison populations worldwide have long experienced substantially higher levels of mental distress than the general population, but the existing literature has neglected critical perspectives on mental health in prisons. This chapter introduces a broader conceptualisation of mental health and outlines the book’s four key arguments; that imprisonment is likely to create or exacerbate mental health problems; that there are considerable tensions between the priorities of care and custody; that mental health issues cannot be separated from context and socially marginalised groups are more likely to experience both imprisonment and poor mental health; and that there is an urgent need to consider alternatives to imprisonment. It concludes with a short description of the structure of the book and the main arguments of each chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alice Mills

  2. University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Kathleen Kendall

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  1. Alice Mills
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  2. Kathleen Kendall
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Correspondence to Alice Mills .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alice Mills

  2. Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Kathleen Kendall

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Mills, A., Kendall, K. (2018). Introduction. In: Mills, A., Kendall, K. (eds) Mental Health in Prisons. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94090-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94090-8_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94089-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94090-8

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

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