BACKGROUND: The growth among older prisoner populations, including in Australia, necessitates an understanding of this group in order to generate effective management strategies. One particular concern is the mental well-being of older prisoners. This study aimed to determine the level of @entity458 among sentenced prisoners aged 50 years and older, to compare this level to that seen among younger prisoners and older @entity1 in the community, and to investigate which mental health history, cognitive functioning, socio-demographic, and criminal justice characteristics were associated with @entity458 . METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 173 older (M = 63 years) and 60 younger prisoners (M = 34 years) in two Australian jurisdictions was conducted. The Kessler Psychological Distress ( @entity7434 ) scale was administered with prisoners and additional data were collected from interviews and @entity1 health and corrections files. @entity7434 scores were compared to community norms using data from the Australian Health Survey. RESULTS: Average @entity7434 scores of the older prisoners were significantly lower than the younger prisoners' (p = 0.04), though the effect size was small (r = 0.1). Significantly, higher distress levels were observed in comparison to the general population (p < 0.001), with older prisoners being three times more likely to display very high levels of distress (12.3% vs. 3.7%). Higher @entity458 scores among older prisoners were significantly associated with female gender (p = 0.002) and a history of mental health issues (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: While the levels of distress seen among older prisoners were significantly lower than that of younger prisoners, their higher levels of distress in comparison to community norms demonstrate a need for correctional services to be attuned to the mental health of the expanding older prisoner population.

Older prisoners: XXXX and associations with mental health history, cognitive functioning, socio-demographic, and criminal justice factors.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participant', 'people'] @entity458 :: ('MESH:D020018', 'Disease') :: ['psychological distress'] @entity7434 :: ('3858', 'Gene') :: ['K10']
@entity458 :: (MESH:D020018,Disease) :: ['psychological distress']
