Factors Affecting the Adjustment of Elderly Inmates to Prison (From Older Offenders: Perspectives in Criminology and Criminal Justice, P 178-195, 1988, Belinda McCarthy and Robert Langworthy, eds. -- See NCJ-110145)

• NCJ Number: 110157
• Author(s): M J Sabath; E L Cowles
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 84-IJ-CX-0043
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study explored the institutional coping strategies of elderly inmates by specifying and testing a model of their adjustment process, based on survey and secondary data obtained for a sample of 111 inmates aged 55 years and older in Missouri's correctional system.

Abstract

The model includes three major concepts: involvement, i.e., the frequency with which inmates participate in personal, social, work, and treatment program activities; morale, i.e., an inmate's general attitude and outlook in prison; and adjustment, i.e., the degree to which elderly inmates do not perceive difficulties getting along with institutional staff and other inmates or difficulties in coping with aspects of the prison environment. Data were obtained through mail surveys of elderly inmates and their caseworkers administered during the summer of 1986 and through the Department of Corrections Offender Management Information System. The model views morale and involvement as the most important predictors of elderly inmate adjustment, with the background variables being of secondary importance and influence. Results obtained from path analysis did not entirely support the model, although predicted linkages did occur for work involvement in two of the operationalizations. Findings indicate that prison adjustment results from an interaction of background or 'extra-prison' variables and situational or 'intra-prison' variables. 3 tables and 2 figures.