Category: Older people in prison

PRT comment: PPO report on discrimination complaints

Commenting on the findings of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman report on discrimination complaints, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“This report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman adds to the growing weight of evidence that prisons are failing to tackle discrimination. It echoes the findings of our own research, showing that many people, legitimately seeking answers, face unacceptable delays and inadequate responses. The neglect of remedies for unfair treatment should concern us all. A well functioning complaints system is a fundamental part of a successful prison service. It allows grievances to be resolved at an early stage and provides vital opportunities for prisons to learn. The government is failing to meet its legal responsibilities to promote equality in criminal justice. The Ombudsman’s report helps to show what government must do to repair the processes of resolving complaints about discrimination.”

PRT comment: older prisoners in Scotland

Commenting on the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland’s thematic inspection on older prisoners, Peter Dawson, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“This report highlights the challenges of providing effective care and a constructive regime for an increasingly elderly and frail prison population. It is a challenge which the Scottish prison service cannot meet on its own. Prison staff should not be expected to do the jobs of nurses and care providers. A comprehensive strategy is needed to ensure health, social care and criminal justice agencies work together to meet the needs of the increasing numbers of people growing old behind bars.”

PRT comment: prisoners with dementia

Commenting on the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s bulletin on prisoners with dementia, Peter Dawson, Incoming Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“This report highlights in distressing detail how imprisonment for many old, disabled people can amount to a double punishment. Prisoners are entitled to the same care in prison as they would receive in the community. They should not be subject to inhumane or degrading treatment due to a lack of preparedness by the prison service. The cross-party Justice Committee, the independent Prisons Inspectorate, and now the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, have called on the government urgently to develop a national strategy to deal with the rapidly growing numbers of elderly and infirm people behind bars. The new justice secretary should heed their advice.”

Notes

A joint report by the Prison Reform Trust and Restore Support Network published this month revealed that older people released from prison are being set up to fail by a lack of adequate provision to meet their health and social care needs. It highlights how limited and inconsistent support to help sort out housing, employment, personal finances and debt, drug and alcohol dependence, and re-establish family relationships is also undermining the effective resettlement of older prisoners and increases the risk of future offending. The report, Social care or systematic neglect?, calls for the creation of a cross-government national strategy for meeting the health, social and rehabilitative needs of older people in prison and on release in the community.

Older prisoners set up to fail by lack of support on release

People aged 60 and over are the fastest growing age group in the prison estate, with nearly three times as many in prison than 15 years ago. People aged 50 and over currently make up 14% of the prison population—some 12,335 people. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of older prisoners reported a mental health problem(s) and eight in 10 reported a serious illness or disability. Most will return to the community, but as the report shows, many struggle to cope with life outside.

This applied research was designed to explore progress made, or otherwise, since serious concerns were raised in 2008 by a major research study conducted by the Prison Reform Trust and Restore into conditions for, and treatment of, older people in prison. At the time a number of older people in prison feared the prospect of isolation and lack of support in the community on release. One prisoner told researchers:

“I committed my last offence to get back inside—I didn’t really do any crime—just couldn’t be bothered to turn up to see my probation officer, which I knew would get me recalled. Truth is I have no relations or friends on the outside and no interests—they’re all here. I have spent most of my life inside that by the time I was given my parole I had great difficulty surviving by myself. I was also getting so ill trying to cope…there wasn’t anybody there to support me. So now I’m in my 70s and back ‘home’ and this is where I’m going to die—not that I want to spend the end of my life in prison but what else is there for me?”

Kindly supported by the Worshipful Company of Drapers, this briefing is based on interviews conducted by Restore Support Network with 14 older people on the reality of their lives after prison. It draws on two focus groups, which gathered the views of a further 18 older offenders and a survey of five prisons in the East of England conducted by the Prison Reform Trust. The samples are comparatively small, and therefore all findings are indicative. However the study does provide important feedback on the implementation of the Care Act 2014 and, more broadly, the impact of changes and remaining gaps in resettlement provision on older age groups.

Key findings include:

Nine of the 14 people interviewed felt that the prison had not adequately prepared them for release. Common concerns included delays, a lack of information, and a failure to arrange support for them after release.
Nine of the 14 said they had social care needs; yet, only one of these said that they had received help from social services, and one other said this was ‘still in progress’.
Thirteen of the 14 said that there had been no referral to a local GP surgery. One said: “I was released with no documentation. No one asked if I had a GP.”
Nine of the 14 said they needed help with education, training or employment. Yet, only one person said that they had been given help. Many of the people interviewed felt training and employment (both in prison and after release) are targeted at young men.
Thirteen of the 14 said that they felt stigmatised as a result of their offending history. Ten of the 14 said they felt socially isolated.

Recent changes to probation services have created instability and led to concerns that the particular resettlement needs of older people are ignored in favour of more general provision. This is despite the introduction of the Care Act, which requires local authorities and prisons to work together to meet the social care needs of prisoners, with older people in prison entitled to the same quality of social care as they would obtain in the community.

Despite these challenges, the report also found evidence of some good practice; including two prisons working with the Ormiston Trust, to help maintain relationships with families whilst in custody; and the identification of people who had no family contact and their notification to the prison’s safer custody team.

Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“This report shows that for many older people in prison getting through their sentence is only the beginning. Poor health, no home or job, isolation and neglect paint a bleak picture on release. It’s clear that with such wide variation in standards of treatment, care and resettlement a national strategy is needed without further delay. ”

Stuart Ware, CEO of the Restore Support Network, said:

“This timely report highlights that unless the Care Act is fully implemented in all our prisons, there will continue to be an escalation of needs when people are released from prison—along with increased cost of care in the community that will have to be borne by local authorities.”

Blog: Prison for old people can be double punishment

Some older people have committed serious crimes and it is important that justice is done, whether or not someone is aged 18 or 80.

But imprisonment for many old, disabled people can amount to a double punishment.

People aged over 60 are now the fastest growing age group in prison in England and Wales.

As of last summer there were over 10,000 people aged 50 and over in prison, representing 12% of the total prison population.

Many of this group have additional support needs, but caring for wheelchair-bound, doubly incontinent, often demented people is beyond what can be reasonably expected of prison staff.

One older prisoner who had bladder trouble told the Prison Reform Trust that when he mentioned wetting his bedclothes to an officer he laughed, and that the younger men and officers started teasing him about his body smell and the stench in his cell.

He said he couldn’t get his wheelchair through the door of his room and he had to try and get from the entrance to his bed.

The Prison Service has a duty to comply with equalities legislation, but is struggling to cope.

In its recent report on older people in prison, the Justice Committee recommended that older and disabled prisoners should no longer be held in establishments that cannot meet their basic needs, and nor should they be released back into the community without adequate care and support.

The ‘disgraceful’ lack of provision for essential social care in prison, highlighted by the Committee, reflects the findings of a Prison Reform Trust report ‘Doing Time: Good Practice with Older People in Prison’.

Based on a survey of prison staff, it found that 93% of respondents made no mention of any social services involvement in their establishment.

The Care Bill currently before Parliament will for the first time introduce a statutory framework for the delivery of social care in prisons.

Solutions lie not in adapting totally unsuitable, outdated prison accommodation; but in secure homes for the elderly, family and community support, and the proper engagement of social care services.

You can read the original article at the Nottinghampost.com

Prison Reform Trust endorses Justice Committee call for national strategy on older prisoners

Responding to the Justice Committee report into older people in prison, the Prison Reform Trust called for a national strategy across justice and health to address the rapidly growing numbers of older people behind bars. Commenting, Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“Imprisonment of old, disabled people amounts to a double punishment. Caring for wheelchair-bound, doubly incontinent, often demented people is beyond what we can reasonably expect of prison staff. Solutions lie not in adapting totally unsuitable, outdated prison accommodation but in secure homes for the elderly, family and community support and the proper engagement of social care services.

The Prison Service has a duty to comply with equalities legislation but is struggling to cope. You do find individual staff members or governors, sometimes working with charities for the elderly, doing their best to respond to the needs of people who are growing old and dying in prison but this is not substitute for a national policy with the full engagement of health, social care and justice services.

We welcome the Committee’s recommendation that older and disabled prisoners should no longer be held in establishments that cannot meet their basic needs nor should they be released back into the community without adequate care and support.

The ‘disgraceful’ lack of provision for essential social care in prison, highlighted by the Committee, reflects the findings of a Prison Reform Trust report Doing Time: good practice with older people in prison. Based on a survey of prison staff, it found that 93% of respondents made no mention of any social services involvement in their establishment.

The Care Bill currently before Parliament will for the first time introduce a statutory framework for the delivery of social care in prisons. Local government, adult social services and prison staff will need to work together to ensure the social care and safeguarding needs of older and disabled prisoners are recognised and met.”

Prisoners interviewed by Prison Reform Trust said:

I have bladder trouble especially at night and I often wet my clothes and bedding. I am very embarrassed about this and don’t want to be a nuisance. When I mentioned this to my officer he laughed and said that we all have problems like that as we get older. But now I’m wetting myself in the daytime and can’t get to the toilet quick enough in education because it is locked. Now some of the younger men and officers are teasing me about my body smell and the stench in my cell.
I can’t get my wheelchair through the door of my room and I have to try and get from the entrance to my bed. When it’s mealtime someone has to collect my food and bring it to me – I’ve been told that officers are not allowed to push me.

I never realised until I came into prison what the term ‘doing time’ meant. I’ve been marking time now for almost 30 years – ticking the days, months and then years off…. I’ve seen so many others come and go and although they say they will keep in touch when they get out, only one or two ever have…. The world I used to know has gone and my only view of the world is what I see on TV or read in the papers. All I have are the fading memories of a lonely childhood and my wild youthfulness of the 1940s and 50s…. I don’t know if any of my relatives are alive and I have no friends to visit me…. I increasingly feel I am slowly dying away– ‘dead man walking’ as the saying goes.

Due to overcrowding we now have to double-up in our cells. The younger guy who moved into my cell insisted on using the bottom bunk and that I had better move to the top one – or else. He took my mattress and I had to make do with an old one. Since then my hip joints have been keeping me awake most nights…. I am afraid to complain but did have a quiet word with Mr X [prison officer] but he told me to sort it out myself and not make an issue of it, otherwise it could be worse for me.

I committed my last offence to get back inside – I didn’t really do any crime – just couldn’t be bothered to turn up to see my probation officer, which I knew would get me recalled. Truth is I have no relations or friends on the outside and no interests – they’re all here. I have spent most of my life inside that by the time I was given my parole I had great difficulty surviving by myself. I was also getting so ill trying to cope… there wasn’t anybody there to help or support me. So now I’m in my 70s and back ‘home’ and this is where I’m going to die – not that I want to spend the end of my life in prison but what else is there for me?

Source: Doing Time: the experience and needs of older people in prison

Doing Time: Good practice with older people in prison – the views of prison staff

People aged 60 and over are now the fastest growing age group in the prison estate. Good practice exists and can be spread but work with older people in prison is not being properly supported by government and too often depends on the goodwill and enthusiasm of individual staff, according to a Prison Reform Trust report. At the moment there is no proper policy input or Ministry of Justice mandatory requirements for prisons staff to respond to needs of older people in custody. We are concerned that increased budgetary restraints could mean that this work is sidelined leaving older people without the support they need and prisons open to challenge under equalities legislation.

Doing Time: Good practice with older people in prison – the views of prison staff is based on a survey of staff sent to all adult prison establishments throughout England and Wales. Staff were asked to outline their work with older people in prison and what would help them to improve the work they did. The high response rate, with 92 prisons returning completed surveys representing three-quarters of all prisons holding older people, demonstrated a willingness to share information and improve practice in work with older people in prison. However, the report revealed patchy provision with prison staff needing further encouragement and resources properly to meet the needs of the older prisoners.

Particular concerns were raised over the capacity of the Prison Service to meet its obligations to older people in prison under the Disability Discrimination Act and forthcoming Equality Act. Prison staff’s own estimates of DDA compliance showed that six of the 92 respondents felt they were fully compliant, 30 almost, and 54 prisons recognised that they were less than half way to compliance. The lack of input from other statutory services in providing for older people in prison was also a cause for concern, with 93% of prison staff making no mention of any social service involvement in their prisons.

Sentence planning and offending behaviour work rarely took account of age, and resettlement departments needed to build better links with outside agencies and develop age-specific resettlement work to meet the needs of older prisoners.

However, the survey revealed much good practice with older people in prison was taking place. Thirty two prison staff (over a third of the survey respondents) explained that a forum, focus group or committee for older prisoners was running in their establishment. Nearly two thirds of the 92 prisons in the survey (60%) reported that some specific age related assessments or arrangements were in place. Respondents from thirty prisons (almost a third of the survey) noted that there was some form of prisoner to prisoner support in the prison for older people. Over a third of prisons (38%) have some outside organisations providing some services to older prisoners.

Older prisoners still face double punishment

Commenting on the thematic review of Older Prisoners in England and Wales by the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“It’s not acceptable that, four years on from the Chief Inspector’s previous report, older prisoners still face the double punishment of being locked up in prisons that take little, or no, account of the needs of the elderly. An ageing prison population is being squeezed into overcrowded jails designed and run for young men. The government must ensure that this time the prison service implements all the inspectorate’s recommendations, particularly the need to develop a national strategy on older prisoners.

“As well as greater use of community punishments for older offenders, ministers should also consider developing specialist secure accommodation for the elderly in cases where a custodial sentence is necessary.”

Doing time, the experiences and needs of older people in prison

A report published by the Prison Reform Trust provides evidence that older prisoners face isolation and discrimination because the government is failing to meet their specialist health, social and resettlement needs, with some prisoners who use wheelchairs unable to join in day-to-day prison activities.

The report, Doing Time: the experiences and needs of older people in prison, supported by the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales, is being launched this morning at Wandsworth prison at an event attended by the Prisons Minister, David Hanson MP and older prisoners.

The latest official figures show that at the end of March 2008 there were 6,661 men and 316 women over the age of 50 in prison in England and Wales, approximately 8.5% of the prison population. Prisoners over the age 60 are the fastest growing age group in prison, with the number of men more than tripling between 1996 (699) and 2008 (2,242). There were 454 people over the age of 70.

The report reveals that often poor health and social care assessments can lead to loss of dignity and humiliation. Some incontinent prisoners are, for example kept locked in education classes without easy access to toilet facilities. One prisoner interviewed for the report said:

I have bladder trouble especially at night and I often wet my clothes and bedding. I am very embarrassed about this and don’t want to be a nuisance. When I mentioned this to my officer he laughed and said that we all have problems like that as we get older. But now I’m wetting myself in the daytime and can’t get to the toilet quick enough in education because it is locked. Now some of the younger men and officers are teasing me about my body smell and the stench in my cell.

Although noting the general improvement in prison healthcare since responsibility was transferred to the NHS in 2006, the report finds older prisoners can face difficulties continuing their medication when imprisoned and routinely fail to receive preventative and screening services. Very few social services departments provide support for older people in prison and it can be difficult for prison staff to find out who has the duty to provide services.

Provision for terminally ill prisoners is identified by the report as another area of concern. The current rules for compassionate release for those with terminal illnesses allow release for prisoners expected to live no longer than three months but the report points out that consultants often find it difficult to predict accurately how long someone has left to live. The report also highlights that transfers to hospices are sometimes subject to unnecessary delays.

Based on interviews with 78 men in prison, 18 ex-prisoners and two focus groups with women prisoners, in addition to letters received by the researchers and the Prison Reform Trust’s advice and information service, the report makes a number of other practice and policy recommendations.

These include:

– Changing the law to clarify legal responsibilities for social care provision for older prisoners who are frail or unwell and whose needs are largely unmet.

– The possible establishment of schemes where trained prisoners provide supervised support for older people in prisons where there are significant numbers of prisoners with physical disabilities.

– Day-to-day prison activities should take into account the needs of older prisoners. As well as making minor adjustments, such as ensuring quick access to toilets at all times for those with bladder problems, separate regimes for older people should be available where possible.

– Better help and advice should be provided when leaving prison at the end of a sentence. The report states that older prisoners are likely to be the most institutionalised of all those released and finds that over a quarter (28%) of interviewees would be over the age of 70 on release.

– Older prisoners should be provided with extended visits for elderly visitors who cannot visit often.

The report calls on prison staff to take steps to monitor the involvement of older people in prison life and, in particular, respond quickly and effectively to bullying. The report finds that almost half (48%) of men interviewed had experienced bullying or intimidation. One example cited in the report, is of an older prisoner whose mattress was taken from him by his younger cell mate who also forced him to use the top bunk at night.

Also highlighted by the report is the use of unsuitable prison cells for older people. One interviewee said:

I can’t get my wheelchair through the door of my room and I have to try and get from the entrance to my bed. When it’s mealtime someone has to collect my food and bring it to me… I’ve been told that officers are not allowed to push me.

The report calls for cell allocation policies to take account of mobility and other health and social care needs.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

More and more older people are being locked up in prisons designed and run for young men. Some older prisoners face the double punishment of poor treatment and conditions. The Prison Service is struggling to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. It would make more sense to develop appropriate secure accommodation for the elderly or to use effective community punishments.