Concern over welfare of older inmates

A WATCHDOG has expressed astonishment at the failure to introduce a “properly resourced” national strategy for older prisoners after a dramatic rise in inmates aged over 60.

Nigel Newcomen, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, said staff are managing ageing prisoners with limited resources and inadequate training.

He warned his office finds too many cases where terminally ill inmates are being “unnecessarily and inhumanely” shackled.

The population behind bars in England and Wales has been ageing in recent years, driven largely by increased sentence length and more late-in-life prosecutions for historic sex offences.

The number of prisoners aged over 60 has tripled in 15 years and projections suggest the trend will be even more marked by 2020.

Mr Newcomen found there has been “little strategic grip” of the sharp demographic change, with prisons and healthcare partners left to respond in a piecemeal fashion.

“The inevitable result, illustrated in my review, is variable end-of-life care for prisoners and a continued inability of many prisons to adjust their security arrangements appropriately to the needs of the seriously ill,” he said.

“I still find too many cases of prisons shackling the terminally ill – even to the point of death.”

Mr Newcomen said he had seen examples of “impressively humane” care for the dying by individual staff, as well as glimpses of improved social care and the development of some “excellent” palliative care.