Gedanken an ein Lebensende in Haft – eine Besonderheit der Inhaftierten im höheren Alter

The aim of the study was to examine the role of thoughts of death and dying with respect to the personality, the physical and psychological conditions and the satisfaction with different aspects of life and prison environment of aged inmates. The study was designed as a cross-sectional questionnaire study using the German versions of the Beck depression inventory II, the brief symptom inventory 53 and the NEO five-factor inventory. Additionally, visual analogue scales (VAS) were used to collect data on satisfaction with different aspects of life and the prison environment. In total 55 inmates aged 60 years and older from 11 Austrian correctional facilities were included. Comparisons of means were primarily used to examine possible differences between the subgroups. The results clearly indicate that older inmates who do not suffer from thoughts of death and dying show significantly lower neuroticism scores and less psychological distress, when compared to inmates reporting these thoughts. Furthermore, thoughts of death and dying are intensified in the course of the increasing duration of the present imprisonment. Additionally, older inmates with thoughts of death and dying reported a significantly lower satisfaction with their subjective physical condition, whereas the conditions within the correctional facilities as well as the objective health condition seem to have no influence.