Depression in a random sample of incarcerated African-American men.

To the Editor: Approximately two million individuals are incarcerated in the United States. Correctional institutions currently house more individuals with serious and persistent mental illness than any other type of U.S. institution (1). Given the disproportionate incarceration of African-American men and the difficulty they experience in accessing mental health treatment services outside of correctional environments (2), insight into their mental health status is critical for informing novel treatment approaches for such a vulnerable population.