Care for Elderly Inmates: Conflicting Concerns and Purposes in Prisons (From Older Offenders: Perspectives in Criminology and Criminal Justice, P 157-163, 1988, Belinda McCarthy and Robert Langworthy, eds. -- See NCJ-110145)

• NCJ Number: 110155
• Author(s): E H Johnson
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines what prisons can reasonably be expected to do for the elderly inmates in the areas of humanitarian care (compassion for inmates), therapeutic care (improving capacity to cope with personal-social problems), and custodial care (provision for basic needs).

Abstract

More studies are needed to test the stereotypical assumptions about the effects of incarceration on elderly inmates. Gillespie and Galliher (1972) found that young inmates were optimistic that aging would 'mature' or 'preserve' them, but the oldest inmates were convinced that prison life increased the pace of aging. Reed and Glamser (1979), on the other hand, report that most older offenders in their study group felt younger than persons of similar age on the outside, were interested in politics, and held a prison job. Friendships in prison were avoided, however, and family contacts were atypical. Studies should give particular attention to long-term inmates who age in prison. Although elderly inmates may not be candidates for vocational training, they do have therapeutic needs related to understanding their offense etiology, adjusting to confinement, and preparing for postrelease conditions. The specific goals of the correctional administrators must strike a balance between custodial security, prison labor productivity, humanitarianism, and therapeutic objectives. This inevitably involves consideration of the pros and cons of housing elderly inmates in a special facility or among the general prison population.