The present article is an analysis based on scientific articles from internet sources such as SciELO, PubMed and Web of Science, between 1998 and 2008. For the search, the keywords used were: violence, drug dependence, mental disturbances and prisoners, in order to produce this review and discuss the data. A total of 408 articles were found, of which 60 were considered suitable for this discussion and 23 books were also found related to this topic. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between violence, drug abuse and mental disturbances in male prisoners. The results showed that drug abuse is an important risk factor in engendering violence and that mental disturbances often go hand in hand with aggressive behavior. It may be concluded that violence and drug dependence in prisoners are directly interrelated.
Crimes; Drugs; Men; Prisons; Violence