Older people in the penal system1
Until very recently there were no policies specifically directed at improving the welfare of
older people in prison. Since 2000, a few reports and papers have emerged which draw
attention to these needs of this population and argue for their better recognition. Perhaps the
most significant of these reports was, No Problems, Old and Quiet: Older prisoners in
England and Wales: a thematic review, published in 2004 by Her Majesty’s Inspector of
Prisons. In October 2007 a toolkit for good practice in the care of older offenders was
published by the Department of Health (DH 2007), and in June 2008 HMIP published a
follow up to the 2004 review (HMIP 2008). From a very low level of awareness there is an
increasing understanding of the high levels of mental and physical health problems
experienced by older prisoners. Nevertheless, many prisons remain poorly equipped to meet
the health and social care needs of older prisoners, most of whom will be released after many
years of institutional living, often with very little in the way of community support. As more
people enter prison in old age with long sentences, increasing numbers of older prisoners may
be expected to die in prison of natural causes, some of whom will require palliative care in
the last stages of their lives.