Table 1.
Descriptive statistics of socio-demographic, clinical, and legal characteristics of inmates incarcerated pre-and post-COVID-19 pandemic.
| Total Sample (n = 2098) |
Pre-COVID-19 | Post-COVID-19 | Test Statistic | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 1043) |
Blaauw+ (n = 726) |
Total (n = 1055) |
Blaauw+ (n = 621) |
Total | Blaauw+ | |||||
| χ2 | p | χ2 | p | V | ||||||
| Gender | ||||||||||
| Males | 1965 (93.7%) | 983 (94.2%) | 677 (93.3%) | 982 (93.1%) | 587 (94.5%) | 1.203 | 0.273 | 0.940 | 0.332 | 0.03 |
| Females | 133 (6.3%) | 60 (5.8%) | 49 (6.7%) | 73 (6.9%) | 34 (5.5%) | |||||
| Age (range) | ||||||||||
| 18–39 | 1125 (53.6%) | 567 (54.4%) | 343 (47.2%) | 558 (52.9%) | 263 (42.4%) | 0.457 | 0.499 | 3.239 | 0.072 | 0.05 |
| 40–59 | 843 (40.2%) | 425 (40.7%) | 344 (47.4%) | 418 (39.6%) | 303 (48.8%) | 0.277 | 0.599 | 0.266 | 0.606 | 0.01 |
| ≥60 | 130 (6.2%) | 51 (4.9%) | 39 (5.4%) | 79 (7.5%) | 55 (8.9%) | 6.092 | 0.014 | 6.261 | 0.012 | 0.07 |
| Nationality | ||||||||||
| Italian | 1848 (88.1%) | 872 (83.6%) | 664 (91.6%) | 976 (92.5%) | 566 (91.1%) | 39.746 | 0.000 | 0.083 | 0.773 | 0.01 |
| Non-Italian | 250 (11.9%) | 171 (16.3%) | 61 (8.4%) | 79 (7.5%) | 55 (8.9%) | |||||
| Education (years) | ||||||||||
| 0–11 | 1710 (81.5%) | 881 (84.5%) | 620 (85.4%) | 829 (78.6%) | 511 (82.3%) | 12.070 | 0.001 | 2.409 | 0.121 | 0.04 |
| 12–18 | 388 (18.5%) | 162 (15.5%) | 106 (14.6%) | 226 (21.4%) | 110 (17.7%) | |||||
| Marital status | ||||||||||
| Single | 748 (35.7%) | 377 (36.1%) | 221 (30.4%) | 371 (30.3%) | 222 (35.8%) | 0.205 | 0.651 | 4.360 | 0.037 | 0.06 |
| Married/cohabitant | 1081 (51.5%) | 552 (52.9%) | 422 (58.1%) | 529 (57.9%) | 301 (48.5%) | 1.625 | 0.202 | 12.552 | 0.000 | 0.10 |
| Separated/widowed | 269 (12.8%) | 114 (10.9%) | 83 (11.4%) | 155 (14.7%) | 98 (15.8%) | 6.640 | 0.100 | 5.441 | 0.020 | 0.06 |
| Occupation | ||||||||||
| Employed | 1143 (54.5%) | 626 (31.6%) | 308 (42.4%) | 517 (49.0%) | 282 (45.4%) | 25.658 | 0.000 | 1.213 | 0.271 | 0.03 |
| Unemployed | 955 (45.5%) | 417 (40.0%) | 418 (57.6%) | 538 (51.0%) | 339 (54.6%) | |||||
| Social net | ||||||||||
| No family | 353 (16.8%) | 169 (16.2%) | 75 (10.3%) | 184 (17.4%) | 120 (19.3%) | 0.574 | 0.449 | 21.864 | 0.000 | 0.13 |
| Family of origin | 633 (30.2%) | 336 (32.2%) | 233 (32.1%) | 297 (28.2%) | 169 (27.2%) | 4.110 | 0.043 | 3.806 | 0.051 | 0.05 |
| Extended family | 1112 (53%) | 538 (51.6%) | 418 (57.6%) | 574 (54.4%) | 332 (53.5%) | 1.681 | 0.195 | 2.295 | 0.130 | 0.04 |
| Previous self-harm | ||||||||||
| Absence | 1917 (91.4%) | 947 (90.8%) | 651 (89.7%) | 970 (91.9%) | 547 (88.1%) | 0.876 | 0.349 | 0.855 | 0.355 | 0.02 |
| Presence | 181 (8.6%) | 96 (9.2%) | 75 (10.3%) | 85 (8.1%) | 74 (11.9%) | |||||
| Previous suicide attempts | ||||||||||
| Absence | 1937 (92.3%) | 951 (91.2%) | 647 (89.1%) | 986 (93.5%) | 561 (90.3%) | 3.850 | 0.050 | 0.538 | 0.463 | 0.02 |
| Presence | 161 (7.7%) | 92 (8.8%) | 79 (10.9%) | 69 (6.5%) | 60 (9.7%) | |||||
| Substance addiction | ||||||||||
| No substance abuse | 411 (39.4%) | 207 (19.8%) | 159 (21.9%) | 204 (19.3%) | 85 (13.7%) | 0.087 | 0.768 | 15.222 | 0.000 | 0.11 |
| Substance abuse | 1687 (80.4%) | 836 (80.2%) | 567 (78.1%) | 851 (80.7%) | 536 (86.3%) | |||||
| Offender | ||||||||||
| First offence | 775 (36.9%) | 521 (49.95%) | 408 (56.2%) | 254 (24.1%) | 142 (22.9%) | 150.759 | 0.000 | 153.921 | 0.000 | 0.34 |
| Recidivist | 1323 (63.1%) | 522 (50.05%) | 318 (43.8%) | 801 (75.9%) | 479 (77.1%) | |||||
| Crime | ||||||||||
| One type | 1469 (70.0%) | 795 (76.2%) | 563 (77.5%) | 674 (63.9%) | 377 (60.7%) | 38.022 | 0.000 | 45.013 | 0.000 | 0.18 |
| Different types | 629 (30.0%) | 248 (23.8%) | 163 (22.5%) | 381 (36.1%) | 244 (39.3%) | |||||
| Drug-related crime | 1179 (56.2%) | 619 (59.3%) | 420 (57.9%) | 560 (53.1%) | 342 (55.1%) | 8.369 | 0.004 | 1.052 | 0.305 | 0.03 |
| Embezzlement | 866 (41.3%) | 397 (38.1%) | 279 (38.4%) | 469 (44.5%) | 293 (47.2%) | 8.840 | 0.003 | 10.494 | 0.001 | 0.09 |
| Criminal conspiracy | 487 (23.2%) | 193 (18.5%) | 139 (19.1%) | 294 (27.9%) | 172 (27.7%) | 25.796 | 0.000 | 13.783 | 0.000 | 0.10 |
| Violence against person |
244 (11.6%) | 97 (9.3%) | 64 (8.8%) | 147 (13.9%) | 87 (14.0%) | 10.956 | 0.001 | 9.073 | 0.003 | 0.08 |
Note: χ2 = frequency analysis on demographic, clinical, and legal characteristics of two groups: pre-COVID-19 (n = 1043), post-COVID-19 (n = 1055), and of the two subgroups of inmates with suicide risk (Blaauw+; scores ≥ 24 on the Blaauw Scale) admitted before (n = 726) and after (n = 621) the onset of COVID-19; p = p-value was significant at 0.05 level; V = Cramer’s V effect size for chi-square test.