Older adults incarcerated in state prison: health and quality of life disparities between age cohorts

Abstract

Objectives

This research sought to describe the physical and psychological health and quality of life among older adult men incarcerated in a state prison and to examine the role of age and historical time between age cohorts.

Methods

Survey responses from male respondents incarcerated in a medium-security prison (N = 186) were described using frequencies and descriptive statistics; chi-square and analysis of variance analyses were used to examine differences between age cohorts.

Results

The average number of chronic health conditions for the sample was higher than those in similar samples; the proportion of older adults with four or more chronic conditions was 10% higher than the national average for adults age 65 or older. Depression and post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptom severity scores were higher than those found in community-based samples. Significant differences were identified between cohorts regarding physical (number of chronic conditions, F = 12.48, p < .01); functional impairment, F = 4.28, p < .05) and psychological health (PTS symptom severity, F = 3.16, p < .05).

Conclusion

Policy and practice implications are discussed including the expansion of on- and off-site services for older adults in prisons, enhanced accessibility, and the use of grief counseling and stress management strategies.

Keywords:

• Chronic conditions
• cohort effects
• functional impairment
• post-traumatic stress
• prisoners

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the Kentucky Department of Corrections' (KYDOC) participation in this project. However, findings from the study are neither approved or endorsed by the KYDOC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 One question asking about participant satisfaction with their sex life was eliminated from the social relationships domain. Reference to sexual behaviors within the setting may trigger a violation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). PREA (2003) was developed to protect individuals from sexual assault within carceral settings. As such, any indication of sexual behavior between two or more incarcerated persons or between an incarcerated person(s) and staff warrants notification to the institutional PREA officer. It was believed that inclusion of this question risked unintended disclosure of sexual behavior (consensual or otherwise).