Violence suffered by older adults deprived of liberty in the light of social ecological theory.

The aim is to analyze the violence suffered by older adults in the prison system in light of social ecological theory. This work is a cross-sectional study conducted with 262 older adults deprived of liberty from all prison units in the macro-regions of the state of Ceará. Data collection took place from May to September 2022 using sociodemographic and prison profile analysis tools in an electronic questionnaire tool called LimeSurvey. The categorized variables considered the dimensions of social ecological theory and were associated with the outcome of experiencing violence in the prison system. After analysis, it was observed that the outcome of experiencing violence had greater statistical significance with the categorized variables: protection in the prison system, contracting diseases in the prison system, access to prison health services, and treatment received by police officers. That is, older adults deprived of liberty are more susceptible to violence in prisons in the outcomes listed in the scenario associated with socioecological dimensions. It can therefore be concluded that the prison environment increases the chance of the older adults suffering violence, corroborating the social ecological theory that the environment influences health and disease processes.