This study examined the base rates, patterns, and configurations of male and female prisoners on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; J. N. Butcher, W. G. Dahlstrom, J. R. Graham, A. Tellegen, & B. Kaemmer, 1989) validity, basic, supplementary, and content scales and compares them with the MMPI-2 adult norms and with the performance of offenders on the original MMPI (S. R. Hathaway & J. C. McKinley, 1943). Expectations as to which scales would show significant and meaningful elevations and effect sizes were generally upheld. The most prominent MMPI-2 scales are Infrequency, 4, 6, 9, MacAndrew Alcoholism Scale-Revised, and Antisocial Practices for both genders, and Scales 5 and Addiction Admission Scale among women. Scales 0 and Responsibility scale appeared to be inhibitory scales. Men and women had similar profile configurations, but the female offenders' scores were more deviant than those of the men.On any given day there are over 1 million adult men and women confined in America's state and federal prisons, a 555% increase since 1970 (American Correctional Association, 1998). Accurate, cost-effective assessment and classification procedures are essential for coping with this burgeoning prison population and for optimally allocating scarce correctional resources. If the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) is to contribute to the assessment of prisoners, it is essential that we determine their characteristic MMPI-2 patterns.This study has three goals. The first goal is to examine the base rates, patterns, and configurations of male and female offenders on the MMPI-2 validity, basic, supplementary, and content scales and to compare them with criminals' scores on the original MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943). The second is to investigate how well the MMPI-2 differentiates criminal offenders from nonoffenders and whether the patterns of differences that emerge are consistent with those previously found on the original MMPI. The third is to compare the MMPI-2 configurations of male and female offenders.

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