Compulsory Community-Based Substance Abuse Treatment and the Mentally Ill Criminal Offender

Abstract
The current study examined the relationship between mental health status and 18-month follow-up rearrest data of 191 probationers remanded to 4 months of treatment at a corrections-operated community-based residential substance abuse program. Probationers completed the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II), which classified 51% with DSM-III-R Axis I and 79% with Axis II disorders. Presence of these psychopathology and personality diagnoses was associated with rearrest after discharge from treatment. After controlling for sociodemographic background variables, arrest history, and substance use, the diagnoses of drug dependence and dysthymia were found to be significant risk factors for probationer rearrest following treatment.