"He's Here Until He Dies": U.S. Correctional Healthcare Workers' Discourse on Older Incarcerated Adults

• In Event: Incarceration, Institutionalization, and Disability (Co-sponsored by Crime, Law, and Deviance Section)

Abstract

As the prison population rapidly ages, U.S. correctional healthcare professionals are increasingly tasked with managing both the lives and deaths of incarcerated people. Meanwhile, the majority of incarcerated people report at least one disability. In this paper, I ask: how do correctional healthcare workers in U.S. jails and prisons understand their work with aging incarcerated people? Through mixed-methods qualitative data collection, including in-depth interviews, I investigate how correctional healthcare workers perceive the needs of older incarcerated adults. I find that nurses, physicians, and administrators in U.S. prisons and jails attempt to manage an increasingly sick and debilitated population with inadequate resources, leading to delayed healthcare, medical neglect, and wrongful deaths. Through this “study up” research, I engage with frontline workers to understand the everyday management of aging, disability, and death in carceral facilities. In doing so, I contribute to research on sociolegal studies, public health, and state violence in the context of U.S. mass incarceration.

Author

• Hannah Schwendeman, University of Minnesota