ABSTRACT
Background Criminal behavior is said to have an association with some psychiatric illnesses, esp. Schizophrenia.There is a modest significant relationship between schizophrenia and violence & crime which persists even aftercontrolling demographic and socio-economic variables.Aims To find out what diagnostic categories of psychiatric illnesses are prevalent in the patients admitted to prisonward of Institute of Mental Health, Hyderabad.Methods Retrospective analysis of records of prison ward patients was done.Results One in five of the patients admitted to prison ward had Schizophrenia mostly of paranoid type. Majority ofpatients were readmissions, because of poor compliance.Conclusions There is a dire need to strengthen prison mental health services.