Psychosocial Factors and Ageing in a Penitentiary System in Mexico

Introduction
Prisons are workplaces for a considerable number of security employees. The custody staff provides security services to prisoners, visitors, and professionals inside penitentiary centers. Those employees remain working until retirement, ageing in a work environment with high physical and emotional demands. The focus is on Psychosocial Factors and Ageing in a penitentiary system. 

Methods
This is a Longitudinal, Quantitative – Qualitative, Descriptive study. Based on a retrospective review of records of personal interviews and individual therapy sessions with employees of 12 penitentiary centers, compiled in the course of 16 years, and the annual application of standardized tools like Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996) and Spanish Burnout Inventory (Gil-Monte, Carlotto & Camâra, 2010; Gil-Monte, Unda & Sandoval, 2009), in the last 5 years. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. 

Results
The results show the appearance of common perceptions and concerns about physical and mental health, security and well – being, work conditions, job demands and age of retirement among penitentiary employees in specific periods of their liberal life. It has a great influence on their life perspectives, self-esteem and job performance. It also demonstrates the existence of some age-related psychosocial risks, as the predisposition to mobbing and burnout. 

Discussion
This descriptive study -despite the difficulties to integrate different sources of information- enhances the need for development of specific tools and methodologies to create an effective and well – founded psychosocial risks management system according to the ageing process of employees in this specific work environment. This review could be useful to improve work conditions and job design in this kind of institutions, barely known as workplaces in a more comprehensive way.