Journal
JOURNAL OF APPLIED GERONTOLOGY
Volume 41, Issue 4, Pages 1101-1110Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/07334648211030069
Keywords
mental health; physical function; crime; social support
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Mental Health [R01-MH106529]
- National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health [R24AG065175]
- UCSF Pepper Center [P30 AG044281]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study examined the physical and mental health of incarcerated males aged 50 and above who spent at least 20 years in prison, comparing lifers and those expected to be released. The findings suggest that lifers experience lower social support, more disabilities, higher depressive symptoms, and higher suicidal ideation scores compared to those expected to be released. These health-related differences have implications for prison systems in terms of staff training, advance care planning, and the need for expanding prison-based hospice programs.
This study describes physical and mental health of incarcerated males aged >= 50 years who spent at least 20 consecutive years in prison, comparing those with life sentences (lifers) with those expected to be released/paroled. Data included demographics, chronic medical conditions, self-reported and objective disabilities, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation (SI), and social support. The 65 participants (M-age = 56.9, SD = 6.6) were racially diverse (40% White, 51% Black, 9% Hispanic/Other), incarcerated for M = 26.6 (SD = 4.5) years, and 34 (52%) were lifers. Among the 39 (60%) of participants with visitors, lifers had lower social support scores (p = .005). After controlling for age, race, and chronic conditions, lifers reported disability in a higher number of activities (p < .001), and had higher depressive symptoms (p = .08) and SI scores (p = .04). Health-related differences between lifers and those expected to be released have implications for prison systems including staff training, advance care planning, and need for expanding prison-based hospice programs.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available