Older Former Prisoners’ Pathways to Sobriety

ABSTARCT

This study explores how older age shapes processes of substance abuse cessation among male substance users recently released from prison. Semistructured in-depth interviews and brief surveys were conducted with 15 men age 49+, released from prison in a large, eastern U.S. city. A follow-up interview was conducted with each participant (n = 15). Conventional content analysis was used to analyze these data. Aging was central to the stories men told about attaining and maintaining sobriety. Men gained clarity after forced detoxification in prison, which was often followed by a period of reflection and evaluation of their lives. Older age seemed integral for this period of sobriety and reflection to catalyze cognitive change, a phenomenon the author terms “sober aged reflection.” Further, men described a heightened awareness of mortality that had come with older age and were deeply afraid of dying in prison. This fear helped inspire a new commitment to sobriety and concordant rejection of the crime that had been linked with their drug use in the past. Finally, men revealed identities and goals that had changed with time, changes incompatible with ongoing drug use. Policy implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• aging
• incarceration
• prisoner reentry
• substance abuse cessation

Acknowledgments

This material was supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care, Portland VA Health Care System. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States government.

Funding

This research was supported by a National Institute on Aging training grant to the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan (T32 AG000221).

Notes

1. “Easton” is a pseudonym for the large, eastern U.S. city where the study was conducted.

2. Five of the original 20 participants neither described nor screened positive for a current or past substance use disorder. Interview data with these participants were not utilized in this article.

3. Although inclusion criteria specified that men should be age 50+, within the course of one interview, one participant revealed that he was age 49.

4. Public locations were sought for interviews as a safety precaution for the interviewer, as some interview participants had a history of violent crime.

5. A second coder analyzed a subset of interviews to establish intercoder reliability. Coding was found to be largely consistent across coders.

6. Of course, it is possible to obtain illicit substances in prison and jail, yet the men in this study had not gone that route. They cited various reasons why, from feeling “too old” to become involved with criminal networks within prison, to being a man who liked “three martinis” rather than the home-grown alcohol available in prison.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a National Institute on Aging training grant to the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan (T32 AG000221).