‘62.2% death row prisoners diagnosed with at least one mental illness’

New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI):
A study on the mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners has shown that over 62 per cent had at least one mental illness, half of them contemplated suicide in jail and experienced adverse childhood and traumatic life experiences.
Project 39A, a criminal justice program at the National Law University Delhi, conducted a study on 88 death row prisoners, three female, and 85 male, and their families across Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh.
The findings of the study titled “Deathworthy: A mental Health Perspective of the Death Penalty” presented empirical data on mental illness and intellectual disability among death row prisoners in India and the psychological consequences of living on death row.
The report which was released after five years of research also established correlations between conditions of incarceration and ill-health.
The report stated that it was found that an “overwhelming” majority of death row prisoners interviewed — 62.2 per cent, had a mental illness and 11 per cent had an intellectual disability. This proportion is overwhelmingly higher than the proportion in the community population, it said.
51 death row prisoners (62.2 per cent) were diagnosed with at least one mental illness. 35.3 per cent were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MMD), 22.6 per cent were diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder and 6.8 per cent screened positive for psychosis, the report said.

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