The prevalence of mental disorders among women serving a sentence in penal colony

The article presents new data concerning prevalence of mental disorders among female convicts. the clinical epidemiological technique was applied to sampling of 1054 women serving a sentence in penal colony. The results of studies demonstrated that factually every second woman suffers of problems of mental health. The conclusion is made that this occurrence is related to specifics of conditions of imprisonment and also with number of biological, social, environmental, psychological factors that favor development of mental pathology in severe penitentiary conditions.