Older people in prison: what do we know about them?
Dr Dean Wilkinson and Professor Laura Caulfield
Across the world, the prison population is ageing. In England and Wales, the number of prisoners aged fifty and over has increased by 200% over the past decade and those age 40–49 increased by around 75%. In comparison, over the same time period, the number of prisoners in England and Wales age 21–29 decreased, while those age 30–39 remained roughly the same.
To some extent a growth in older prisoners might be expected as we are an ageing population. However, statistically speaking, the number of older people in prison is growing at a faster rate than the number of older people in the general population. Increasingly researchers and practitioners are adopting age 50 and above as the cut off for categorising older prisoners due to the accelerated ageing process seen in this group and observed through characteristics such as cognitive decline. There are a number of issues presented by this group around psychological and mental health, well-being and physical health needs. These all present challenges for a prison system designed with young men in mind. A standard prison in the UK may not have the facilities to accommodate the needs of older prisoners: from more obvious physical needs, such as the requirement of those with mobility issues to use a lift to move floors, to specific care for those demonstrating onset of, or further developed dementia.
When we were involved in the evaluation of an arts project with older prisoners, the above issues became apparent to us. The accounts of some project participants highlighted an array of issues and challenges experienced by them and the prison. It became clear to us that there was a growing need to explore what is known about this particular group — in terms of their characteristics and routes into the prison system — to effectively design and develop support and rehabilitation. We recently undertook a systematic review of the existing evidence on older people in the criminal justice system. We found that older people were more likely than their younger counterparts to commit crimes against the person that are physical and sexual in nature, and that are more likely to be linked to alcohol misuse. We also found evidence that court sentencing practices and policies might partially account for the number of older people reaching prison, although this varies across countries and jurisdictions. The review also highlighted that the risk posed by older prisoners warrants further investigation. For the next stage of our work in this area, ICRD and HMP Stafford are collaborating on a programme of doctoral research to understand what good practice should look like for prisons that house older prisoners.
