While all incarcerated people are at risk of PICS, the symptoms are most severe in prisoners who have been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and/or severe institutional abuse. The severity of symptoms are directly related to the level of coping skills a person had before their incarceration, the length of their incarceration, the restrictiveness of their incarceration environment, the number and severity of institutional episodes of abuse they encounter, and the degree of their involvement in educational, vocational, and other rehabilitation programs while they are incarcerated.

The Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a mixed mental disorder with five clusters of symptoms:

(1) Institutionalized Personality Traits resulting from the common deprivations of incarceration, a chronic state of learned helplessness in the face of prison authorities, and antisocial defenses in dealing with a predatory inmate culture,

(2) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from both pre-incarceration trauma and trauma experienced within the institution,

(3) Antisocial Personality Traits (ASPT) developed as a coping response to institutional abuse and a predatory prisoner culture, and

(4) Social-Sensory Deprivation Syndrome caused by prolonged exposure to solitary confinement that radically restricts social contact and sensory stimulation.

(5) Substance Use Disorders caused by the use of alcohol and other drugs to manage or escape the PICS symptoms.

PICS often coexists with substance use disorders and a variety of affective and personality disorders and may include feelings such as helplessness, fear, isolation, hopelessness, anger and rage.

Work by David Morgan Lund, President of BarNone’s Board of Directors