The older prison population in Chile

• In Event: Aging in prison. Prison staff and volunteers in prison

Abstract

This presentation shows the findings of a recently submitted PhD thesis on the topic of the older prison population in Chile. In this qualitative exploratory research, 22 practitioners, technicians and personnel from the Gendarmería of Chile who work with older prisoners were interviewed, using semi-structured interviews, in order to find out who these older people in prison are, what their needs are, what conditions they are in and how the need for fairness can be balanced with justice for the victims.
In order to answer these questions in this research, I used the concepts of Sykes (1958) on the pains of imprisonment and how these are applied more harshly to the population of older adults and comparative perspectives about similar criminological research done in the global north (Humblet, 2022, Crewe 2011, Mann 2012, Wahidin 2004)
This presentation will expose the findings from this qualitative research conducted in 2020 and 2021, which explain the criminal justice system's lack of reaction to adapt to changes in its population and its challenges. It will also address the helplessness in which older men and women find themselves when they do not conform to the expectations of prisoners' behaviour, mobility, and health within the Chilean prison system. Also, the criminal justice system perspective and academic research have largely neglected and ignored the older prison population. This research is the first one of this kind in Chile.

Author

• Daniela Andrea Mardones Bravo, University of Edinburgh