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Introduction: The amount of elderly persons among arrested persons is increasing. This fact poses new challenges for penitentiary institutions since their structure and medical care capacity is not designed for elderly prisoners. The objectives of this literature review were to describe the possibilities and difficulties of elderly persons in prison in their daily life task performance and to provide an overview of potential occupational therapy interventions. Method: A systematic literature search was performed in different therapeutical, medical and psychological databases. Then, literature was critically appraised and findings were summarised in relation to the Biel model. Results: Elderly prisoners have impairments in body-functions that impact their ability to perform tasks in the areas of leisure/play, activities of daily living and work. Furthermore, the physical, social and cultural environment of the prison mainly restricts and only partly supports their ability to perform daily life tasks. Their performance problems are observable in form of posture/mobility, use of tools and social interaction. Literature from different occupational therapy fields implies possible occupational therapy interventions for elderly persons in prison. Conclusion: Occupational therapy interventions could enable, support and sustain daily life performance of elderly persons in prison. However, feasibility and effectiveness of such interventions need to be evaluated. Furthermore, general requirements for and assumptions of costs of occupational therapy in prisons need to be clarified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]