Psychopathology and Criminality

You are the commander three shifts of corrections officers (COs) working around the clock in a maximum-security cell block in a state penitentiary. You have an exceptionally good group of COs who have managed to intervene in most potentially violent problems without incident. They have developed an effective network of prison informants form the inmate population.

There is a Middle-Eastern man who is about 65 years old serving a life sentence for the honor killing of his own daughter. He has been in the prison for about 10 years. Your COs report to you that his mental state appears to be deteriorating. He is a moderately religious person and feels there is no reason for terror violence. Every time an article about terrorism or the threat of terrorism is published in the newspapers provided by the prison library, the inmate reports to the COs that there is a planned violent takeover by the Muslims incarcerated in the same cell block. There are a number of American-born Muslims incarcerated in the cell block, and the inmate seems to have access to them as a sort of religious leader for prayer services and advice.

At first, you took him seriously, but when he started to explain who the extremists were and what their mission was, you began to realize that he was just selecting inmates in the cell block and identifying them as potential inmates with violent intent. He would make up stories about the manufacture of makeshift weapons in the middle of the night. He would indicate that the Muslim extremists had contacts with other inmates throughout the prison and a comprehensive riot and plan to take over the prison was being planned. Several prison staff members working in the infirmary have been identified by the inmate as sympathetic to the extremists’ cause, and he has accused them of helping provide weapons and other materials.

Please respond to the following questions. You must provide meaningful feedback to the main postings of at least two of your classmates.

• What are 2 types of disorders that might be affecting this complainant, and why did you consider them?
• What types of referrals are available for a mentally ill person of this sort?
• How should you continue to handle this inmate’s reported intelligence information, and why?