Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T08:16:45.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

No Place for Old Men? Meeting the Needs of an Ageing Male Prison Population in England and Wales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2021

Louise Ridley
Louise Ridley*
Affiliation:
Northumbria University, UK E-mail: louise.ridley@northumbria.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed significant increase in numbers of older men imprisoned in England and Wales; a phenomenon experienced across the western world. Those aged fifty and over represent the fastest-growing demographic group in prison in England and Wales. This article summaries explanations for and implications of this increase and the characteristics, needs and lived experiences of this population, before critically reflecting on current policy and practice responses; and how responses highlight definitional and policy ambiguities around older prisoners. The article discusses a multi-agency initiative developed at one prison in northern England that recognised the uniqueness of older prisoners, modified regimes and changed physical environments. Impact is benchmarked against Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons four tests of a healthy prison, followed by discussion of findings and implications for policy and practice. The article argues for expanded collaboration to better manage challenges posed by older prisoners, supported by a national strategy.

Keywords

Ageingolder menimprisonmentsocial policy
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 21 , Issue 4: THEMED SECTION: Interrogating Welfare Stigma: Dynamics of (re)Production, Experience and Resistance in the Welfare State , October 2022 , pp. 597 - 611
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acheson, I. (2016) Summary of the Main Findings of the Review of Islamist Extremism in Prisons, Probation and Youth Justice, London: Ministry of Justice.Google Scholar
Aday, R. and Wahidin, A. (2016) Older prisoners’ experiences of death, dying and grief behind bars, The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, 55, 3, 312–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, G. and Dempsey, N. (2016) Prison Population Statistics , Briefing Paper, House of Commons Library.Google Scholar
Berry, G., Briggs, P., Erol, R. and van Staden, L. (2011) The Effectiveness of Partnership Working in a Crime and Disorder Context. A Rapid Evidence Assessment, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Bolano, M., Ahalt, C., Ritchie, C., Stijacic-Cenzer, I. and Williams, B. (2016) ‘Detained and distressed: persistent distressing symptoms in a population of older jail inmate’, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64, 11, 2349–55.Google Scholar
The Care Act (2014) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/contents/enacted.Google Scholar
Chu, V. (2016) Greying Behind Bars: Older Male Offender’s Experience of Prison Life and Preparations for Resettlement, London: Howard League.Google Scholar
Clinks (2015) The State of the Sector, London: Clinks.Google Scholar
CMAJ (2014) ‘Inside grey walls: unprepared for an aging inmate population’, CMAJ, 186, 6, 191–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, S. and Taylor, L. (1972) Psychological Survival, Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Cooney, F. and Braggins, J. (2010) Good Practice with Older People in Prison – The Views of Prison Staff, London: Prison Reform Trust.Google Scholar
Cornish, N., Edgar, K., Hewson, A. and Ware, S. (2016) Social Care of Systematic Neglect? Older People on Release from Prison, London: Prison Reform Trust and Restore Support Network.Google Scholar
Crawley, E. (2004) ‘Release and resettlement: the perspectives of older prisoners’, Criminal Justice Matters, 56, 1, 32–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, E. and Sparks, R. (2005) ‘Hidden injuries? Researching the experiences of older men in English prisons’, The Howard Journal, 44, 4, 345–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, E. and Sparks, R. (2006) ‘Is there life after imprisonment? How elderly men talk about imprisonment and release’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6, 1, 63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawes, J. (2009) ‘Ageing prisoners: issues for social work’, Australian Social Work, 2, 2, 258–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Smet, S., De Donder, L., Ryan, D., Van Regenmortel, S., Brosens, D. and Vandevelde, S. (2017) ‘Factors related to the quality of life of older prisoners’, Quality of Life Research, 26, 6, 1571–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Disability Discrimination Act (2005) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/13/contents.Google Scholar
Dyer, W. and Biddle, P. (2013) ‘Prison health discharge planning – evidence of an integrated care pathway or the end of the road?’, Social Policy and Society, 12,4, 521-32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, A. (2013) ‘Learning from diversity: the strategic dilemmas of community-based crime control’, in Hughes, G. and Edwards, A. (eds.), Crime Control and Community: The New Politics of Public Safety, Devon: Willan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Equality Act (2010) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents.Google Scholar
Fazel, S. (2014) ‘Older people and the criminal justice system’, in Taylor, P. J. and Gunn, J. (eds.), Forensic Psychiatry: Clinical, Legal and Ethical Issues, Florida: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Fazel, S. and Danesh, J. (2002) ‘Serious mental disorder in 23, 000 prisoners: a systematic review of 62 surveys’, Lancet, 359, 545–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fazel, S. and Grann, M. (2002) ‘Older criminals: a descriptive study of psychiatrically examined offenders in Sweden’, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 10, 907–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fazel, S., Hope, T., O’Donnell, I., Piper, M. and Jacoby, R. (2001) ‘Health of elderly male prisoners: worse than the general population, worse than young prisoners’, Age and Ageing, 300, 403–07.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forsyth, K., Senior, J., Stevenson, C., O’Hara, K., Hayes, A., Challis, D. and Shaw, J. (2015) ‘They just throw you out: release planning for older prisoners’, Ageing and Society, 35, 9, 2011–25.Google Scholar
Ginn, S. (2012) ‘Elderly prisoners’, BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 345: e6263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, H., Fleming, J., Skinner, A. and Williams, B. (2006) ‘Partnership working for victims of crime’, Criminal Justice Matters, 64 Summer, 42–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grainge, P. (2013) Working with Older Offenders: A Resource for Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Organisations, London: Clinks.Google Scholar
Hayes, A., Burns, A., Turnball, P. and Shaw, J. (2012) ‘The health and social needs of older male prisoners’, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27, 1155–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2004) No Problems – Old and Quiet: Older prisoners in England and Wales, London: HMIP.Google Scholar
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2008) Older Prisoners in England and Wales: a follow up to the 2004 Thematic Review, London: HMIP.Google Scholar
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2018) Annual Report, 2017-2018, London: HMIP.Google Scholar
HM Inspectorate of Prisons and Care Quality Commission (2018) Social Care in Prisons in England and Wales, London: HMIP.Google Scholar
HM Prison Service (2016) HMP Frankland Management and Care of Older Prisoners Policy Document.Google Scholar
House of Commons Justice Committee (2013) Older Prisoners, Fifth Report of Session 2013-14, London: The Stationary Office Ltd.Google Scholar
House of Commons Justice Committee (2019) Transforming Rehabilitation, Ninth Report of Session 2017-2019, London: The Stationary Office Ltd.Google Scholar
Howse, J. (2003) Growing Old in Prison: A Scoping Study on Older Prisoners, London: Centre for Policy on Ageing and Prison Reform Trust.Google Scholar
Jepson, N. and Elliott, K. (1986) Shared Working Between Prison and Probation Officers, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Kennedy, S. and Kitt, I. (2013) Developing Services for Older Offenders in Northumberland, Northumberland Probation Trust, Age UK North Tyneside, Tackling Sexual Offending Together.Google Scholar
Key, W. and Culliney, M. (2018) ‘The oldest old and the risk of social exclusion’, Social Policy and Society, 17, 1, 47–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Mesurier, N. (2011) Supporting Older People in Prison: Ideas for Practice, Age UK.Google Scholar
Liebling, A., Tait, S., Stiles, A., Durie, L., Harvey, J., assisted by Rose, G. (2005) An Evaluation of the Safer Locals Programme, report submitted to the Home Office.Google Scholar
Mann, N. (2015) ‘Ageing prisoners’, in Reeves, C. (ed.,) Experiencing Imprisonment: Research on the Experience of Living and Working in Carceral Institutions, London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Maschi, T. and Viola, D. (2015) ‘Trauma, stress and coping among older adults in prison: towards a human rights and intergenerational family justice action agenda’, Traumatology, 121, 3, 188–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mills, A., Meek, R. and Gojkovic, D. (2012) ‘Partners, guests or competitors: relationships between criminal justice and third sector staff in prisons’, Probation Journal, 59, 4, 391–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Justice (2018) Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: April to June 2018, London: Ministry of Justice.Google Scholar
Ministry of Justice (2019) Strengthening Probation, Building Confidence, London: Ministry of Justice.Google Scholar
Morgan, J. (1991) Safer Communities: The Local Delivery of Crime Prevention Through the Partnership Approach, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
Murdoch, N., Morris, P. and Holmes, C. (2008) ‘Depression in elderly life sentence prisoners’, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 9, 957–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nacro (2009) A Resource Pack for Working with Older Prisoners, London: Nacro.Google Scholar
National Audit Office (2019) Transforming Rehabilitation: Progress Review, London: National Audit Office.Google Scholar
National Service Framework for Older People (2001) London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
O’Hara, K., Forsyth, K., Senior, J., Stevenson, C., Hayes, A., Challis, D. and Shaw, J. (2015) ‘Social services will not touch us with a barge pole: social care provision for older prisoners’, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 26, 2, 275–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Offender Rehabilitation Act (2014) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/11/contents/enacted.Google Scholar
Perkins, N., Smith, K., Hunter, D. J., Bambra, C. and Joyce, K. (2010) What Counts is What Works’? New Labour and Partnerships in Public Health, Bristol: The Policy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (2016) Annual Report 2015-16, London: HMIP.Google Scholar
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (2017) Learning from PPO Investigations: Older Prisoners, London: HMIP.Google Scholar
Prison Reform Trust (2008) Doing Time: The Experiences and Needs of Older People in Prison, London: Prison Reform Trust.Google Scholar
Prison Reform Trust and Restore Support Network (2016) Social Care or Systematic Neglect? London: Prison Reform Trust.Google Scholar
Public Health England (2017) Health and Social Care Assessment Needs of Older Prisoners, London: Public Health England.Google Scholar
Towl, G. (2002) ‘Psychological services in HM Prison Service and the National Probation Service: working towards an effective partnership’, The British Journal of Forensic Practice, 4, 3, 3–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trotter, C. and Baidawi, S. (2015) ‘Older prisoners: challenges for inmates and prison management’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 48, 2, 200–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker, S., Hargreaves, C., Cattermull, M., Roberts, A., Walker, T., Shaw, J. and Challis, D. (2019) ‘The nature and extent of prisoners’ social care needs: do older prisoners require a different service response?’, Journal of Social Work, doi: 10.1177/1468017319890077.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tucker, S., Hargreaves, C., Roberts, A., Anderson, I., Shaw, J. and Challis, D. (2018) ‘Social care in prison: emerging practice arrangements consequent upon the introduction of the 2014 Care Act’, The British Journal of Social Work, 48, 6, 1627–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, M. and Peacock, M. (2017) ‘Palliative care in UK prisons: practical and emotional challenges for staff and fellow prisoners’, Journal of Correctional Health Care, 23, 1, 56–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turner, M., Peacock, M., Payne, S., Fletcher, A. and Froggatt, K. (2018) ‘Ageing and dying in the contemporary neoliberal prison system: exploring the double burden for older prisoners’, Social Science and Medicine, 212, 161–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vega, M. and Silverman, M. (1988) ‘Stress and the elderly convict’, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 32, 2, 153–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, D. (2006) ‘Protecting the public: the police/probation partnership’, Criminal Justice Matters, 63 Spring, 20–1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wangmo, T., Handtke, V., Bretschnieder, W. and Elgar, B. S. (2015) ‘Prisons should mirror society: the debate on age-segregated housing for older prisoners’, Ageing and Society, 37, 675–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. (2012) ‘Social care and older prisoners’, Journal of Social Work, 13, 5, 471–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar