Problems and Coping Strategies of Elderly Inmates in Prisons of Nepal

The experiences of elderly prisoners remain largely untold. Moreover, research about elderly people in Nepal is scarce, and no research has been conducted on elderly prisoners in the context of Nepal. This chapter aims to elucidate the experiences of elderly people in prisons in Nepal and how they cope with the challenges that confront them in prison. The paper is based on the mixed method of the data collected based on Quan-Qual techniques. An exploratory research design was used with the convergent parallel method for data collection among 114 respondents including where 100 surveys were taken for the quantitative data collection and 14 Key Informant interviews were selected through convenience sampling method for the qualitative data. While, there are many factors that determine the experiences and coping strategies of the elderly people in prison, it was found that first, problems faced by elderly people in prison include physical, psychological, economic, and legal challenges. They also found it difficult to maintain relationships with their family outside. Second, religion and maintaining relationships with other prisoners acted as a coping factor for elderly people inside prison.