"As time passes, the hope for a meaningful life fades away"
For a growing group of people, the ageing process takes place behind bars, away from their familiar surroundings, friends and family, with limited access to care and unable to determine how the final phase of their lives will unfold. This reality is central to the research of Diete Humblet, a criminologist at the VUB. Her work highlights a group that is often overlooked in public debate: older people in detention.
The number of older prisoners is increasing worldwide, partly due to longer sentences and an ageing population. However, prisons were historically designed for young, relatively physically strong men and are hardly adapted to the needs of people who are getting older. Diete Humblet is investigating how ageing in prison differs from ageing in freedom and what that means for physical and mental health, social relationships and, above all, for meaning in life. Her ERC Starting Grant project CAGED has given her the opportunity to study these questions in a fundamental and international way.
According to Humblet, old age in detention is still too often approached from a narrow medical perspective. “When it comes to the detention of older people or individuals who are growing older in captivity, we still think too much in terms of a one-sided biomedical model,” she says. “That model focuses on illness and physical decline, but leaves little room for existential questions.”
No attention for detention
That is precisely where her research aims to make a difference. “It is mainly about meaning. Meaning in the scientific sense: we ask ourselves how you, as an individual in prison, can give meaning to your life.”
Humblet's work is at the intersection of different disciplines. She wants to build a bridge between gerontology, the study of ageing, and penology, the study of punishment and penalisation. This combination is striking, because gerontological research in Europe hardly ever focuses on people in detention. This lack of attention has consequences. “For those who grow older in prison, it can feel as if time is simply passing without any prospects,” says Humblet. “This can be a problem for these people: they see the years they could be living in freedom slipping away, reducing their hope of still leading a meaningful life inside or outside prison walls.”
"We are like plants in a pot"
Methodologically, her research is based on the voices and experiences of those involved. In previous projects, she worked with extensive correspondence, ethnographic fieldwork in Belgian prisons and creative methods such as photography and role-playing. In CAGED, she combines this qualitative approach with policy analysis and international comparison. Belgium serves as an important case study, partly because it has different regimes for the integration and segregation of older persons in detention. The project also looks beyond Belgium's borders, focusing, among other things, on an age-segregated facility for older persons deprived of their liberty in Germany, which is unique in Europe.
"Exit to freedom. Back into society. Towards a ray of sunshine"
Her research is highly relevant to society. Due to the ageing population, the number of older people in detention is growing, while the prison system is structurally unprepared for this. This leads to tensions around care, infrastructure and human dignity. Humblet's work fuels the debate about what detention should look like in later life and what alternatives are conceivable. She expects that there will be more international attention for restorative justice and other forms of punishment that are better suited to the realities of old age.
"Infinity. There is no end to it"
Hopefully, the research will also have an impact at the policy level. Results are shared with policymakers, prison administrators and social workers, with the aim of making detention practices more humane and meaningful. Collaboration plays a key role in this. Humblet works closely with prison administrators, policymakers and other researchers, and emphasises that interdisciplinarity opens up new perspectives. “Lawyers, gerontologists and criminologists each have a different view of old age and punishment, and it is precisely these differences that enrich the debate.”
"It is dark where we are. It is all dark, because there is no life here. But you must know that after every night comes a day. A sunrise."
Technology, and more specifically artificial intelligence, could potentially play a supporting role in her work, for example in analysing large amounts of qualitative data. Humblet wants to evaluate this as she goes along. However, she already warns against overestimating AI. “Human stories cannot be reduced to patterns or statistics. Empathy, closeness and listening remain crucial, especially when researching vulnerable groups.”
Dealing with punishment, old age and human dignity
The ERC Starting Grant, which provides approximately €1.5 million in funding over a period of five years, means more than just recognition for Humblet. It offers her the freedom to carry out a large and risky project that would otherwise be difficult to finance, strengthens her research team and puts her work on the international map. At the same time, her motivation remains deeply human. Her interest in the subject stems from a broader concern about how the legal system deals with vulnerability.
Through her work, Diete Humblet invites us to fundamentally reconsider how we deal with punishment, old age and human dignity. Not only within prison walls, but also outside them, she poses an uncomfortable but necessary question: what does a meaningful life mean when freedom is no longer a given?
"At the moment, I am a shadow of my former self"
Viewed from behind the bars
The photographs accompanying this article are part of the project 'Ageing behind bars: a photovoice study in a geriatric medical prison unit'. The aim was to highlight how older prisoners experience their lives, care needs and dignity within a prison context. Under the guidance of Diete Humblet, the photovoice methodology was used, allowing prisoners to capture and share their own perspectives through photography and reflection. Humblet translated the insights from this project into broader social and policy-relevant questions about ageing and detention. You can read more about this in this academic article.
Diete Humblet is a criminologist and researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where she conducts research on ageing in detention. In her work, she studies how ageing behind bars differs from ageing in freedom, focusing on health, social relationships and meaning. With her ERC Starting Grant project CAGED, she investigates this theme through an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of criminology, gerontology and penology, with qualitative fieldwork in Belgium and international comparisons. Her research contributes to the debate on human dignity, punishment and alternatives to detention in later life.
What’s in a name: ERC Grants
The European Research Council Grants (ERC Grants) are among the most prestigious research grants in Europe. They support groundbreaking, fundamental research. An ERC Grant can amount to several million euros and usually runs for five years.
There are different types. Starting Grants are intended for promising young researchers. Consolidator Grants support researchers who want to strengthen their line of research. Advanced Grants are for established scientists with an exceptional track record. Synergy Grants fund teams of top scientists who tackle a major challenge together. Proof of Concept Grants help to translate ERC research into applications.
Competition is extremely fierce: only a small percentage of applications are funded. Success requires a strong innovative idea, an excellent CV and a convincing research plan.
