ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the complex and innovative ways in which these men maintain agency over their lives and cope within an environment which can be both damaging and depriving. By developing strategies to maintain hope, by restricting hope in order to avoid fatalism and suicide and by drawing on internal and external structures in order to cope with prison life, the chapter documents the resourceful and inventive capabilities of an ageing prison population. The data used in this chapter are taken from PhD study which researched the experiences of ageing male prisoners in England and Wales, based on 50 qualitative interviews with 40 prisoners aged 55 years and over and ten prison officers. The past decade has seen a significant change in the 'make-up' of the prison population. The cells and landings once inhabited exclusively by physically capable, volatile men have now been interpolated by a significant number of ageing men, many of whom have physical or mental limitations.
