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.

中文翻译：

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法国老年囚犯的管理

很少有研究调查老年囚犯的精神障碍及其管理方面的困难。在这项研究中，40 名监狱工作人员（看守人员、社会工作者和缓刑官员）接受了采访，以评估工作人员管理老年囚犯的专业做法和方法。调查结果显示，在情感和专业层面，对老年囚犯与年龄相关的脆弱性的态度非常矛盾。工作人员试图让被监禁的老年人符合四种传统的囚犯角色（敌人/公民/威胁/使用者）可能会导致一些监狱工作人员使用情绪防御机制。