Abstract

The elderly inmate population has seen an exponential rise in population and is creating new and demanding challenges for the criminal justice system globally. Moreover, judicial policies for long-term incarceration have resulted in increasingly higher proportions of seniors living behind bars. The rise in elderly serving in the correctional system has been associated with a spike in obesity and diabetes prevalence among the prison population. Evidence shows that with proper dietary management, physical exercise, and stress management, the burdens of obesity and diabetes can be reduced in any population. However, it is unclear from the literature of research evidence how this would generalize to serving the elderly predisposed to obesity and diabetes from the aging process. Individuals incarcerated within penal systems globally appear to show an increase in obesity and diabetes consistently, and well-targeted judicial policies may be a solution. This study will examine the evidence for current judicial policies aimed at addressing obesity in prison populations, especially among the elderly serving.

Keywords:Elderly; Inmates; Obesity; Diabetes; Policy