The Management of Elderly Prisoners in France

• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0032885519875029
• Author: Nicolas Combalbert,Cecile Rambourg
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885519875029

The Prison Journal

2019, Vol. 99(5) 559 –571

© 2019 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0032885519875029

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Article

The Management of

Elderly Prisoners in

France

Nicolas Combalbert1

and Cecile Rambourg2

Abstract

Very few studies have examined the mental disorders of elderly prisoners

and the difficulties related to their management. For this study, 40 prison

workers were interviewed (custodial staff, social workers, and probation

officers) to assess staff professional practices and approaches in managing

elderly inmates. Findings showed highly ambivalent attitudes to the age-

related vulnerabilities of elderly incarcerees, at both emotional and

professional levels. Staff attempts to make the incarcerated elderly conform

to some four traditional images of the prisoner roles (enemy/citizen/threat/

user) may lead some prison staff to use emotional defense mechanisms.

Keywords

elderly inmates, mental disorders, psychological vulnerability, prison workers,

ethical and professional standards

Introduction

In the past 20 years, France, like many other countries, has experienced a very

significant rise in the number of elderly prison inmates (Carcach & Grant,

2000; Crawley & Sparks, 2005; Landreville, 2001; Mara, 2002). On January

1, 2017, there were 78,796 prisoners in France, of whom only 3.5% were

1University of Tours, France

2French National Academy for Prison Administration, Agen, France

Corresponding Author:

Nicolas Combalbert, University of Tours, EA 2114, 3 rue des Tanneurs, 37041, Tours, France.

Email: nicolas.combalbert@univ-tours.fr

875029TPJXXX10.1177/0032885519875029The Prison JournalCombalbert and Rambourg

research-article2019