Coming out of Prison: A Qualitative Exploration of Elders in the Criminal Justice System

Background/Purpose: Despite the growing body of literature on the aging prison population, there is a dearth of information on the experiences of LGBT elders involved in the criminal justice system.  In order to build upon the existing literature, this qualitative study was conducted to explore the experiences of formerly incarcerated LGBT elders before, during, and after prison.

 Methods: LGBT elder adults aged 50+ released from prison within the past five years were recruited to participate in this qualitative study An announcement and invitation that described the study on the bulletin boards of regional correctional community service providers to recruit participants. About ten participants who responded to the announcement and invitation. First, two ninety minute focus groups were conducted with formerly incarcerated LGBT elders with five participants persons per group. The focus group interview schedule consisted of ten open-ended questions that asked about their after being released from prison. One week later, each participated in a one-on-one 90-minute semi-structured in-depth-interviews. The one-on-one interview schedule was divided into three parts that asked participants more detailed questions about their experiences of self and community before, during, and after prison. The interviews were recorded using a digital audio recorder and were transcribed verbatim. Participants were offered a thirty dollar gift card for their participation for each interview completed. Content analysis methods as outlined by Drisko and Maschi (in press) and two coders were used to analyze the data.

Findings: An overarching theme ‘self and the social mirror,’ emerged from data about that described their lifelong process of managing the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ prisons of oppression, social stigma, and criminal justice involvement. Self in the social mirror was defined as a dynamic personal, interpersonal, and historical process that involved the mutual reflection (or deflection) of participants’ diverse selves with family and friends and society.  Many participants described a lifelong process of integrating aspects of their social identities or location that were commonly subject to bias, discrimination, and violence. Many participants viewed themselves by one or more of following identities (or social location): being a racial/ethnic minority, older, HIV positive, LGBT, formerly incarcerated with a mental health and/or substance diagnosis, occupational status and income, and geographic location. All of the participants shared how their views on came to terms with the complexities of multiple aspects of self that involved visible or invisible minority or stigmatized identities, such as race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or their serious mental health status.

Conclusion: As found in this study, many of these diverse elders were not only LGBT but racial ethnic minorities with histories of HIV/AIDs, serious mental illness and substance abuse, trauma, and/or committed drug or serious violent offenses. A holistic comprehensive approach is recommended that involved interprofessional and intersectoral collaboration to address service and policy gaps that are commonly experienced by LGBT elders in prior to prison, during prison, and after they are released from prison. The use of LBGT affirmative psychosocial clubs in prisons and communities are recommended to provide the supports that foster health and well-being among this population.