There is growing interest in ageing offenders and their lives in prison. However, this subject is often studied from a deprivation perspective, focusing on issues such as lack of medical care and proper environmental conditions. This article highlights experiences of wellbeing while ageing in confinement, using the conceptual framework of successful ageing. An interpretive phenomenological analysis perspective was used to analyse the narratives of 18 older prisoners. The narratives revealed four themes: ‘Like all other older men’: comparing ageing in prison with ageing within the community; ‘Better than what I have outside’: prison as an escape from a life of loneliness, poverty and delinquency; ‘Here I get some respect’: the older prisoner as a mentor; and ‘I feel accomplished’: experiences of growth and self-discovery as a means for successful ageing in prison. The findings suggest that ageing in prison may not be perceived as a single, unified process, but as a personal and individual phenomenon, and that old age may facilitate positive changes in the lives of ageing offenders in prison.

人们对年迈的罪犯及其在监狱中的生活越来越感兴趣。但是，经常从剥夺的角度研究这个问题，重点是诸如缺乏医疗保健和适当的环境条件之类的问题。本文通过成功衰老的概念框架，重点介绍了分娩时的幸福感。解释性现象学分析的视角被用来分析18名年长囚犯的叙述。这些叙述揭示了四个主题：“像所有其他老年人一样”：将监狱的老化与社区中的老化进行比较；“比我在外面拥有的更好”：监狱是摆脱孤独，贫穷和犯罪的生活；“在这里，我得到一些尊重”：年长的囚犯作为指导者；和“我感到很成功”：成长和自我发现的经验，作为监狱成功衰老的一种手段。研究结果表明，监狱中的衰老可能不会被看作是一个统一的过程，而是个人和个人的现象，而且老年可能会促进监狱中衰老者生活的积极变化。