NCJ Number
211253
Date Published
2005
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This chapter reports on a British study that explored the implications and possibilities for identity construction, identity preservation, and identity loss in the prison setting, with attention to the experiences of older male inmates.
Abstract
Findings were drawn from a 2-year study of the implications of aging in the prison setting, as well as a review of sentencing trends, which influence the age distributions of prison populations; an examination of current policy developments; and the authors' research project entitled, "Surviving Prison in Later Life." The latter study involved an intensive, qualitative interaction with a number of older male inmates that focused on their biographies, social relations, and current problems and prospects. A second component of the research consisted of conversations with uniformed and other prison staff. The research found that the social and emotional impacts of imprisonment on men in their later years can be intense. Older inmates unfamiliar with the subculture and routines of a prison are likely to be particularly anxious and depressed. They not only suffer the stress of entering an alien environment, but are shocked that their latter years are to be spent in such a fashion. The social supports and familiar routines that have provided stability to their lives have been dismantled, and they are faced with new experiences and stressful circumstances that require new coping mechanisms and survival modes. For those who grow old in prison, especially those who enter prison for the first time in old age, questions of memory, identity, meaning, and ultimately mortality are uppermost in their minds and in their coping strategies, which tend to vary by personality, interests, and skills that may continue expression in prison. 24 notes and 31 references