Older Adults' perspectives on death and dying in prison

Incarcerated people often have extensive health needs compared to their community-dwelling peers. This is especially the case among older adults, who represent a sizeable and growing portion of the U.S. prison population with a concomitant health burden. While research has expanded in recent years regarding health-related experiences among older adults in prisons, research surrounding their perceptions of death and dying in these settings remains limited. We gathered qualitative data from 193 interviews with older men incarcerated across three U.S. prisons. Experiences related to dying and death were normative among the sample and both secondary and primary accounts of dying and death were described. Descriptions of death were most often framed with reference to health conditions versus violence. Further, respondents' perceptions of death and dying were also linked to fears in three areas: dying while imprisoned, dying due to distrust of the prison health care system, and what happens to their personal effects and persons after death in prison. Findings reinforce the importance of addressing carceral medical neglect, the potential role of hospice, and the need for correctional policy and practice to be attentive to disenfranchised grief. •Older adults incarcerated in prison often witness the dying and death of others•Dying and death in prison is more often related to illness than violence•Older adults incarcerated in prison worry about prison health care failures•Death anxieties among older adults relate to their belongings and bodies after death