who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him.
Note 1.  In the interpretation above, the term "spirits in prison" was construed as a reference to people who at the time Peter referred to them were deceased, therefore "spirits" in prison, in the sense of their being like the fallen angels imprisoned until the day of their doom at the final judgment.  In further support of that view the following is added.  The Tyndale Commentary offered the objection that "spirits in prison" is not elsewhere used in the Bible to describe departed human spirits.[41] However, both wicked spirits, that is, spirits of wicked people, and the spirits of the just made perfect  (Hebrews 12:23) are thus referred to if the word "spirits" (of persons plainly said in the next line to have been disobedient) is here construed as a reference to the spirits of wicked men; and there is no logical reason why this should not be done.  If it was proper to refer to the "spirits of just men," it is also correct to refer to "spirits in prison" as a designation of the wicked men deceased, for the very fact of their being "in prison" designates them as wicked.