The Experiences of Older Adults with a History of Incarceration Who Have Reentered the Community: A Focus Group Study
- 19 April 2026
- journal article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Gerontological Social Work
- p. 1-25
Abstract
In recent years, older adults have been the fastest-growing demographic group within the U.S. prison population, often facing significant bio-psychosocial difficulties when reentering the community. To examine how social workers can best assist older adults in the reentry process, three focus groups with 26 older formerly incarcerated inmates were conducted in New York City to explore their experiences transitioning out of prison. Seven themes were identified that demonstrated the resilience of this population to self-actualize in the face of societal marginalization, as well as the value of social workers utilizing anti-oppressive and empowerment perspectives when working with them.Keywords
Funding Information
- New York Community Trust (P22-000142)
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- What Can Nonprofits Learn From Mutual Aid Organizing? Investigating Mutual Aid Approaches During the COVID ‐19 PandemicNonprofit Management and Leadership, 2025
- Reflections on Criminal Justice Reform: Challenges and OpportunitiesAmerican Journal of Criminal Justice, 2022
- Thematic analysis of qualitative data: AMEE Guide No. 131Medical Teacher, 2020
- The effect of prison visitation on reentry success: A meta-analysisJournal of Criminal Justice, 2016
- Co-constructing community: A conceptual map for reuniting aging people in prison with their families and communities.Traumatology, 2015
- ‘They just throw you out’: release planning for older prisonersAgeing and Society, 2014
- Modern Social Work Theory2014
- Social Work Practice with Reentry from Incarceration2013
- Community Reentry and Older Adult Offenders: Redefining Social Work RolesJournal of Gerontological Social Work, 2009
- Some guidelines for the phenomenological analysis of interview dataHuman Studies, 1985