Objective: To evaluate the mental health status of prisoners in a prison by general health
questionnaire (GHQ-12) and analyze the influencing factors. Methods: The basic information
questionnaire and general health questionnaire were used to collect the data of criminals in a certain
prison, and the collected data were analyzed statistically. Results: (1) The total GHQ score of the subjects
was 0-12 (3.01±3.51), and 2999 (57.86%) were GHQ-negative and 2184 (42.14%) were GHQ-positive. The
three items with the highest positive rate were “too little sleep due to worry”, “always feeling depressed
and depressed” and “always feeling nervous”. (2) There were statistically significant differences in age,
execution term and remaining term between GHQ positive group (total score ≥3) and GHQ negative
group (total score <3) (p<0.05). (3) Binary Logistic analysis showed that with the increase of age and
the extension of the remaining sentence, the mental health level of the subjects tended to decline, and
the group serving the sentence of 3 to 10 years was significantly correlated with symptoms. Conclusion:
There are certain mental health problems in certain prisoners in a prison, and the prisoners over 35 years
of age, serving a sentence of 3 to 10 years, remaining sentence of more than 3 years should be paid more
attention in each prison.