According to a new report, one in four inmates in the UK is thought to be suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The figure, which surprised experts, is five to 10 times higher than its prevalence of 2% to 4% in the general population.
Patient groups and doctors are now calling for criminals to be monitored for ADHD when they get to jail. Routine examination of each new prisoner could reduce violent incidents behind bars and help patients avoid committing more crimes by helping them manage the disorder, they say.
The extraordinary figure stands out in a new report prepared by the ADHD Foundation, a group of experts on the disorder and the pharmaceutical company Takeda, which analyzes the evidence on ADHD and the criminal justice system.
The report warns that failing to detect inmates with ADHD when they begin serving their sentences contributes to difficulties in managing prisons, as those who have it are up to eight times more likely to be involved in prison incidents. aggression as a result of his condition.
“Someone with ADHD can be very impulsive and unable to stand still, and many of them become quite restless and hyperactive, so for them being locked in a confined and confined space makes them increasingly affected. a low tolerance for frustration, so they start and knock on doors or hit the wall or injure themselves or damage property, such as soiling their cell, “said Dr. Joe Johnson, a Mersey Care consultant psychiatrist. NHS Trust, who worked as a visiting psychiatrist running mental health clinics at the Risley Men’s Prison in Warrington for six years.
“Although ADHD is very common in the prison population, it is not controlled,” he said. Automatic screening on arrival would confer “powerful” advantages, he added.
“Screening could significantly improve outcomes because ADHD is a highly treatable disorder. It could reduce the risk of relapse, reduce rates of substance abuse, as some people could self-medicate with illicit drugs, improve their mental health i [make them] more likely to be involved in education and employment, “Johnson added.
Prison authorities could easily identify those with ADHD by beginning to include that in the selection process newcomer inmates already went through mental health issues, he said.
The report also found that treating ADHD through psychological management techniques or medications had been shown to reduce criminal behavior in men by 32% and in women by 41%. However, it is estimated that 80% of prisoners with this disease had not been diagnosed, he added.
“People with ADHD don’t have a criminal gene. They’re not more likely to become criminals,” said Dr. Tony Lloyd, executive director of the ADHD Foundation. He said the unusually high proportion of people with incarcerated conditions was due to their inability to be diagnosed as children, he said, due to long waiting times for NHS child and adolescent mental health services. the mismanagement of students’ schools with this and the fact that at that time some patients struggled to keep their jobs, and some ended up using drugs, especially cannabis, which could lead them to commit crimes.
However, Johnson added that in his experience, some convicts who were already taking medication for ADHD when they arrived were unable to continue taking it because prison authorities said the drugs were not on the list. of therapies they issued.
The unnamed 14-year-old, who was convicted last month in Liverpool Crown Court of stabbing 12-year-old Ava White in the city last November, had ADHD.
Research published in the journal BMC Psychiatry in 2018 found that diagnosing and treating ADHD in inmates could result in “critical intervention” that “is likely to have a positive impact on the offender and society.” Despite this, “in the criminal justice system, ADHD continues to be misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed and, therefore, inadequately treated.”
Scholars listed a number of “barriers” in prisons for identifying and treating ADHD. They include low awareness among staff and inmates of their symptoms and treatments, lack of “use of appropriate screening and diagnostic tools,” and shortage of mental health personnel.
The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment. But a Whitehall source said the Justice Department is testing and looking at the use of several different screening tools that indicate a prisoner has neurodivergent traits, including those associated with ADHD, and will help staff help these inmates. The source insisted that all adults and children under the age of 18 who are being detained are already undergoing an ADHD test during the first week of their stay as part of an assessment of whether they have mental health or learning disabilities. or neurodivergent needs.