ABSTRACT
The proportion of people over 50 in forensic mental health services is rising, although older adults remain a minority in forensic mental health care overall. The life expectancy of older adults with severe mental illness is considerably lower than the general public, but little is known about the lived experience of older adults in secure forensic settings. The perception of older adults as ‘old’ and ‘vulnerable’ may be associated with their increased marginalisation in decision-making. In this chapter, we will review the available literature on the needs and experiences of older people in forensic mental health settings, demonstrate the importance of conducting qualitative research, and discuss forensic mental health service users’ lived experiences by describing ethnographic research conducted with older men and women aged over 50 years old in a low- and medium-secure unit in the southeast of England.
